Universal Film Magazine issue 12 Free with issue of Movie Money Magazine

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Universal Film Charity planning demo outside Groucho Club P.44 Child Abuse Issue 12 - 2014

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ISSUE 12

20,000 Days On Earth P.19 The Galapagos Affair P.14 Festival Scammers Uncovered P.14

George Clooney “The Monuments Men” Berlin 2014 Dreamworks Animation 1 Figures

Jack O Conell “71”

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Universal Film Issue 12 - 2014

About The Universal Film Magazine is a free magazine that delivers passionate and creative coverage about the global film and festival communities. The publication differs from the competition because it is totally free. It is the mission of the Universal Film Magazine to uphold our uncompromising high standards in professional journalism with compelling stories that are unbiased and fact-based. Facebook www.facebook.com/groups/ ufmag/ Our Partners Universal Film & Festival Organization. a non-for-profit dedicated to promoting “Best Business Practices� for film festivals, now with 218 film festival members. www.uffo.org

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Contents FEATURED STORIES: - Berlin 14 09 Diplomatie A film by Volker Schlondorff Violence - Berlin 14 10 Concerning A film by, Goran Hugo Olsson Affair - Berlin 14 14 Galapagos Historic Documentary on Love Affair Saint Laurent - Berlin 14 22 Yves A film by, Jalil Lespert Grand Budapest Hotel - Berlin 14 24 The Produced and Directed by Wes Anderson D4s 30 Nikon The new Nikon Camera reviewed - Berlin - 14 36 7171 with Jack O Connell at Berlin 14 Film Festival 14 42 Vaughan Announces 2014 film line-up online Child Abuse Network 44 Groucho Child abuse network at the Groucho Club’s online members fourm. Sedona International Film Festival 50 with Susan Sarandon attending Film Festival 2014 55 Glosgow Terry Gilliam and Richard Dreyfuss attend Empire Awards 2014 57 Jamerson Paul Greengrass to get Inspiration Award D:facto Microphone 59 DPA Vocal Microphone wins new fans

The Monuments Men P.5

American Hustle P.16

20,000 Days On Earth P.18

Nymphomaniac P.20 3 www.ufmag.biz


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Universal Film Issue 12 - 2014

THE MONUMENTS MEN BERLIN - 2014

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ased on the true story of the Producer is Barbara A. Hall. Director of greatest treasure hunt in history, Photography is Phedon Papamichael, ASC. The Monuments Men is an action Production Designer is Jim Bissell. Edited by drama focusing on seven over-the- Stephen Mirrione, A.C.E. Costume Designer hill, out-of-shape museum directors, is Louise Frogley. Music by Alexandre artists, architects, curators, and art Desplat. historians who went to the front lines Berlin of WWII to rescue the world’s artistic “The story of the Monuments Men is masterpieces from Nazi thieves and 2014 one that really very few people know,” return them to their rightful owners. says George Clooney, who returns to With the art hidden behind enemy lines, the director’s chair for the story of a small group of artists, art historians, architects, how could these guys hope to succeed? But as the Monuments Men found themselves in and museum curators who would lead the a race against time to avoid the destruction rescue of 1000 years of civilization during of 1000 years of culture, they would risk World War II in his new film, The Monuments their lives to protect and defend mankind’s Men. “Artists, art dealers, architects – these greatest achievements. were men that were far beyond the age that they were going to be drafted into a war or Fox 2000 Pictures and Columbia Pictures volunteer. But they took on this adventure, present a Smokehouse production, The because they had this belief that culture can Monuments Men. The film stars George be destroyed. If they’d failed, it could have Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John meant the loss of six million pieces of art. Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh They weren’t going to let that happen – and Bonneville, and Cate Blanchett. Directed by the truth of the matter is, they pulled it off.” George Clooney. Produced by Grant Heslov and George Clooney. Screenplay by George The chance to make a World War II movie Clooney & Grant Heslov, based on the book was extremely attractive to Clooney and his by Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter. Executive writing and producing partner, Grant Heslov.

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“There’s a certain romance around these movies – The Great Escape, The Dirty Dozen, The Guns of Navarone, The Bridge on the River Kwai,” says Clooney. “In those movies, you fell in love with the characters and the actors as much as the story. And we thought The Monuments Men was a great chance to cast interesting contemporary actors together for our version of that kind of movie – it’s a fun and entertaining way to do it.” Part of the drama of the film is that all of the Monuments Men are so unsuited to serving as soldiers in wartime. “Wars are fought by 18-year-olds,” says Clooney. “Once you get to the John Goodmans and the Bob Balabans and the George Clooneys, you know – these guys are not getting drafted.” Heslov adds: “They did it because it was clear that they were the only people who could do it.” “Actually, we never really fully thought of this as a war film – it was a heist film,” says Clooney. “And then, the first day, we got to the set, and everybody put on their uniforms and helmets.” Clooney was inspired to tackle The Monuments Men as a feature film not only because of its exciting and dramatic subject matter, but because it marked a sharp, decisive break from his most recent film, The Ides of March. “We were very proud of that film, but it was contemporary, and very small – and also cynical,” says Heslov. “We’ve made some cynical films, but in general, we really aren’t cynical people,” Clooney continues. “We wanted to do a movie that wasn’t cynical, a movie that was straightforward, old-fashioned, and had a positive forward movement to it.” In their search for material, Heslov mentioned that he had recently read the book The Monuments Men by Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter, and brought the subject matter to Clooney. Here was a chance to tell an optimistic story on an epic scale – a true story with huge stakes. “I was living in Florence, walking across the Pontevecchio Bridge – the only bridge that wasn’t destroyed by the Nazis as they fled in

1944 – and I wondered, this was the greatest conflict in history…how were all of these cultural treasures saved, and who saved them?” Edsel asks. “I wanted to find out the answer.” The answer was the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives group, which would go to the front lines and, for the first time, try to save the treasures that could be saved. “Culture was at risk,” says Clooney. “You see it time and time again. You saw it in Iraq – the museums weren’t protected, and you saw how much of their culture was lost because of that.” “Even today, people are still trying to get back the art that was looted from their families by the Nazis,” Heslov says, noting that just recently, a treasure trove of looted art was discovered in a Munich apartment – 1,500 works worth $1.5 billion, paintings by Matisse, Picasso, Dix, and other artists that had been thought to be lost. “I think what that goes to show is that this is not a story that ended in 1945 – the search for missing art goes on today,” Heslov continues. “There are still thousands of works that are still lost. There are paintings that are hanging in people’s homes or hidden in plain sight on the walls of museums. Can you imagine if all of that had just been destroyed? It would have been a catastrophe.” “This story opens up the Second World War in a way that gives you a different perspective on it,” says Cate Blanchett, who plays a key role as Claire Simone, a woman who holds the key to the secret location of thousands of priceless pieces of stolen art. “These men were spurred on by a higher ideal. So many of the works that we take for granted in the great museums of the world were returned by this band of men – it was a near impossible task. Absurd, in a way: non military men going to the front lines and asking generals to stop bombing a certain church or area to save a window, or a sculpture or mural – you wonder how they were able to save anything

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at all. It’s an extraordinary, selfless thing that they did, done to preserve history.”

Have we found any paintings?’ The military started getting pretty engaged.”

Though the Monuments Men had the support of FDR and General Eisenhower, they did face a challenge in embedding themselves in the field. “Eisenhower was very keen on the idea – he wanted to make sure that there was something left when the war was over – and the war was going to be over very soon,” says Clooney. “It was something he came to, after Allied bombing destroyed an ancient abbey that really didn’t need to be destroyed. So it was important not just to protect the art from the Nazis, but from the Allies’ own exploits as they pushed toward the end of the war. The Allies were blowing everything up, so they had this realization that culture can be destroyed – not just by the Germans, but by us.”

The Monuments Men were also working against a ticking clock. As the Allies closed in on Berlin, Hitler was unwilling to accept unconditional surrender – and if he couldn’t have Germany, no one else would either. “It became known as the ‘Nero Decree,’ Clooney explains. “Hitler said, ‘If I die, destroy everything’ – bridges, railroad tracks, communications equipment – and that was taken to mean the art, too. Everything.”

Edsel says that many museum directors in the US had concerns about the art and cultural treasures that could be lost in the war, but that they were working at cross purposes – each director with his own plan – rather than in concert. “George Stout – who would later become the unofficial leader of the Monuments Men – made some efforts, but he gave up on it – he figured no one was going to approve the idea of a bunch of middle aged art historians, architects, and artists running around with combat soldiers.” But then Roosevelt approved the idea – and not a moment too soon. “In August 1943, the Allies nearly destroyed The Last Supper inadvertently,” Edsel continues. “I think that set off the alarm bells and accelerated getting the monuments officers into the field.” Edsel says that one might expect that soldiers fighting a war would not be receptive to being told what they could and could not blow up – but it’s just the opposite. “Much to their surprise – and we found this in their letters home, over and over again – there was only mild resistance at the beginning, and that quickly gave way to soldiers asking, ‘How are we doing? Have we saved any churches?

Clooney and Heslov note that while the film is based on the true story of the Monuments Men, they did take some liberties with the characters for dramatic purposes. Though many of the characters are inspired by real Monuments Men, Clooney and Heslov have invented characters for the film. “For the film, we wanted some of the characters to be flawed – we felt it would help the audience empathize with them as we tell the story,” Clooney explains. “But it’s not really fair to take a great man’s real name and then give him a flaw he didn’t have in real life.” Heslov adds: “I think our characters end up looking pretty heroic in the film, and if our movie inspires people do their own reading and find out that the real men were even more heroic, I’m okay with that.” More importantly, even if the characters are invented, their story is real. “We invented a few mundane scenes, just to help the story along, but the things in the movie that you’d think are so ridiculous and strange, ‘well, there’s no way that those actually happened’ – those are the things that actually happened,” says Clooney. For the film, Clooney and Heslov were able to attract a top tier of actors, including Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and Cate Blanchett.

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DIPLOMATIE

A film by Volker SCHLÖNDORFF

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ugust 25th, 1944. The Allies enter Nordling and Choltitz did meet several times, Paris. Shortly before dawn, Dietrich once just a few days prior to August 24, at the von Choltitz (Niels Arestrup), Meurice Hotel and at the Kommandantur to German military governor of Paris, negotiate an exchange of German political prepares to execute Adolph Hitler’s orders prisoners in return for French Resistance to blow up the French capital. Bridges prisoners. and monuments are all rigged to Berlin And the meeting worked out very explode. well. On the other hand, between 2014 August And yet, Paris is not destroyed. For 20 and 24, the two men had what reasons did von Choltitz refuse to agreed to a sort of cease-fire. Resistance carry out the Fuhrer’s commands, despite his fighters had managed to invade the Paris boundless loyalty to the Third Reich? police general headquarters but they feared Was it Raoul Nordling (André Dussollier), that the Germans were going to retaliate Swedish consul-general to Paris, who made since they still had troops on the ground. the General change his mind? There exist biographies of the two men, War places men in extreme situations and written in the 1950s. As they include personal brings out the best and worst in humanity. testimonies where each man seeks to make These days a conflict between France and his role look good or in the case of the general Germany is so unthinkable that I found it to clear his own name. interesting to recall the past relationships between our two countries. If, God forbid, The contrast between an upscale luxury Paris had been razed, I doubt that the Franco- hotel and a soldier with his bleak project to German bond would have formed or that destroy whatever he sees out of his window Europe would have pulled through. Besides, is stunning and definitely cinematic. what appealed to me was the opportunity to pay tribute to Paris.

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Universal Film Issue 12 - 2014

Concerning Violence BERLIN - 14

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film by Göran Hugo Olsson Based on Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth

Africa first hand. With their 16mm footage, found in the Swedish Television archives, filmmaker Göran Hugo Olsson draws on his experience making The Black Power From the director of The Black Power Mixtape (2011) to create a visual narrative Mixtape comes a bold and fresh from Africa - images of the pursuit of visual narrative on Africa, based on A film by freedom, the Cold War and Sweden. Göran newly discovered archive material Swedish filmmakers, with their sense Hugo covering the struggle for liberation of solidarity with anti-imperial and Olsson from colonial rule in the late ‘60s and socialist struggles around the world ‘70s, accompanied by text from Frantz at the time, created images and stories Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth. which still resonate today, and can change and deepen our impression of the globalized Concerning Violence is both an archive- world we live in. driven documentary covering the most daring moments in the struggle for liberation The people captured by these filmmakers in the Third World, as well as an exploration fought with their lives at stake, for their into the mechanisms of decolonization and others’ freedom. The unique archival through text from Frantz Fanon’s The footage features a nighttime raid with the Wretched of the Earth. Fanon’s landmark MPLA in Angola, interviews with the guerrilla book, written over 50 years ago, is still a major soldiers of FRELIMO in Mozambique, as well tool for understanding and illuminating the as with Thomas Sankara, Amílcar Cabral and neocolonialism happening today, as well as other African revolutionaries. The imagery is the violence and reactions against it. fantastic: clear, crisp and unique films that convey a sense of urgency and dedication In the middle of the Cold War, radical that was at the heart of the decolonization Swedish filmmakers set out to capture the movements.”National liberation, anti-imperialist liberation movements in national renaissance, the restoration of

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nationhood to the people: whatever may be the headings used or the new formulas introduced, decolonization is always a violent phenomenon.” In pictures and interviews, as well as with a narrating voice guiding the audience through the material with the words of Frantz Fanon, Concerning Violence tells the story of the people and ideas behind one of the most urgent struggles for freedom and change in the 20th century. The organization of the film into nine chapters connects quite abstract ideas with concrete images and real people who embody and carry the story. Crafting a form that is unique in its blend of cinematic essay and archival footage documentary, Concerning Violence reintroduces Fanon’s humanist, post-colonial vision through a cinematic journey that brings us face to face with the people for whom Fanon’s writings on decolonization were not just rhetoric, but a reality. In layering Fanon’s text with archive footage, graphic design and music in a contemporary tone, filmmaker Göran Hugo Olsson presents a new generation of audiences with a reexamination of the machinery of colonialism

that is at the root of much of the violence we see breaking out in parts of the world today. With support from the Swedish Film Institute, Cecilia Lidin / the Finnish Film Foundation, Elina Kivihalme / YLE, Erkki Astala & Iikka Vehkalahti / the Danish Film Institute, Klara Grunning Harris / DR-K, Flemming Hedegaard / the Nordic Film & TV Fund, Karolina Lidin / the MEDIA programme / the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program. Director, Göran Hugo Olsson was educated at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm and is one of Sweden’s leading filmmakers internationally. He is a documentary filmmaker, cinematographer and manufacturer of his own innovation - the A-Cam, a Super-16 film camera. He was editor and co-founder of the short documentary television program ”Ikon” (SVT). His previous film The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011) became a huge hit in festivals, theatres and TV broadcasts worldwide. Olsson has since 1999 been a member of the Editorial board of Ikon South Africa - a platform for creative documentary in South Africa by township filmmakers in cooperation with South African national broadcaster SABC.

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Universal Film

FAMILY OFFICE WINTER FORUM Issue 12 - 2014

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MARCH 12, 2014 NEW YORK MARRIOTT MARQUIS, NEW YORK, NY As part of the Private Wealth Series, Opal's Family Office Winter Forum is designed to cover the ever-changing trust, tax, estate planning, family governance and investment issues that are timely and relevant to family offices and those who support their day to day operations. Experts and industry professionals from across the globe will travel to New York to speak on the important issues facing family offices and high-net worth individuals. Come and join us for a highly intense day of engaging discussions on the latest investment trends and soft issues with some of the most well established and senior Family offices, Private investors, money managers, and private wealth service providers from around the globe. Sponsorship and Exhibiting Opportunities are Available If you are interested in attending, sponsoring, speaking or exhibiting at this event, please call 212-532-9898 or email info@opalgroup.net To register, visit us online at www.opalgroup.net or email us at marketing@opalgroup.net Ref code: FOWFA1406

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Universal Film Issue 12 - 2014

THE GALAPAGOS AFFAIR Satan Came to Eden

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arwin meets Hitchcock in this true- to become “The Swiss Family Robinsons of crime tale of paradise found and the Galapagos.” Then, shortly thereafter, the lost. The Galapagos Affair: Satan Austrian Baroness Eloise von Wagner Bosquet Came To Eden is a fascinating (Connie Nielsen) arrived, toting a revolver, documentary portrait of a 1930s murder a pair of handsome, much younger mystery as strange and alluring as the lovers and a grandiose plan to build famous archipelago itself. Fleeing A film by a luxury hotel catering to billionaire Göran conventional society, a Berlin doctor yachtsmen. Hugo and his mistress start a new life on Olsson uninhabited Floreana Island. These three groups, each with their ownpersonal mythologies and visions of But after the international press what paradise might be, quickly discovered sensationalizes the exploits of the Galapagos’ that the island ofFloreana would never be “Adam and Eve”, others flock there— large enough for peaceful cohabitation. including a selfstyled Swiss Family Robinson and a gun-toting Viennese Baroness and her THE GALAPAGOS AFFAIR then becomes the two lovers. Things would never be the same. tale of disparate dreams colliding in a harsh environment barely capable of supporting The Galapagos Affair is a gripping parable human life: it is a portrait of mysterious of Robinson Crusoe adventure and utopian disappearances and likely murder for some, of dreams gone awry. With this fame others survival and triumph for others. As the story flocked to the shores of Floreana, each unspools, Josh Radnor voices the observing seeking to realize his or her own personal eye of John Garth, a young American ambitions. The first “intruders” on Ritter’s scientist, and Gustaf Skarsgård is the Swedish solitude were the Wittmer family: Heinz journalist, Rolf Blomberg, who comes to (Sebastian Koch), his pregnant wife Margret investigate the Island’s disappearances. (Diane Kruger) and teenage son Harry, who left Cologne, Germany, in 1931 determined

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Universal Film Issue 12 - 2014

AMERICAN HUSTLE fictional film set in the alluring world of one of the most extraordinary scandals of the 1970s, American Hustle tells 1 the story of brilliant con man Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale), who along with his equally cunning and seductive partner Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) is forced to work for a wild FBI agent Richie DiMaso (Bradley Cooper). DiMaso pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia that’s as dangerous as it is enchanting.

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Jeremy Renner is Carmine Polito, the passionate, volatile, New Jersey political operator caught between the con-artists and Feds. Irving’s unpredictable wife Rosalyn (Jennifer Lawrence) could be the one to pull the thread that brings the entire world crashing down. Like David O. Russell’s

two previous films, American Hustle defies genre to tell a story of love, reinvention, and survival. Columbia Pictures and Annapurna Pictures present an Atlas Entertainment production, American Hustle. Starring Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, and Jennifer Lawrence. Also starring Louis C.K., Michael Peña, and Alessandro Nivola. Directed by David O. Russell. Written by Eric Warren Singer and David O. Russell. Produced by Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Megan Ellison, and Jonathan Gordon. Executive Producers are Matthew Budman, Bradley Cooper, Eric Warren Singer, and George Parra. The Director of Photography is Linus Sandgren, F.S.F. The Production Designer is Judy Becker. The film is edited by Jay Cassidy, A.C.E., Crispin www.ufmag.biz


Universal Film Issue 12 - 2014

Struthers, and Alan Baumgarten, A.C.E. The costume designer is Michael Wilkinson. Music by Danny Elfman. The Music Supervisor is Susan Jacobs. American Hustle has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for pervasive language, some sexual content and brief violence. The film will be released in limited release on December 13, 2013, and in wide release on December 20, 2013. The film’s running time is two hours, seventeen minutes. American Hustle marks the third part in a three-film evolution for filmmaker David Russell. Beginning with The Fighter, continuing with Silver Linings Playbook, and playing out on a larger canvas than ever before in American Hustle, Russell centers on characters who are trying to change their lives through a process of reinvention. “These are movies about people whose lives have not gone the way they wanted or intended,” he explains. “There remains something deeply lovable about them, but they’re also heartbreaking. They spend the entire film, not just the third act, reckoning with who they are and how they are going to find their way to love life again. These characters have their sense of who they are splintered into pieces, and are wondering not just what they’re going to do, but how they’re going to care about life again, how they’re going to love again. And it is important to me that they are passionate people who do or have truly loved life in some specific ways. This is as important to me as the ordeal of how they persevere, come out the other side, humbled and their love intact or renewed. It is no cliché when it is, as Irving says, lived from the feet up.”

affair between these two gives them a special power that anybody who’s ever been in love can attest to,” Russell says. “When you’re in love, you feel that you’ve become more than the sum of the parts – something divine is happening to you. For me, the first part of the film is communicating how these two fell in love, how special they made each other feel, how much they love their lives – that enchantment was everything. We fall in love with their passion for life. And then trouble comes knocking. They will have to reinvent themselves to survive – and when they do that, what will happen to their love?” In fact, the film is about romance in many ways. Russell notes: “It’s about Irving and Sydney’s romance for each other, and the romance that happens briefly between Richie and Sydney, and the flickering romance of the dying marriage between Irving and Rosalyn. It’s the friendship between Irving and Carmine, and Carmine’s marriage to Dolly. And, of course, Irving’s art as a hustler is in many ways a romance – he has an ability to enchant, to get people to believe, to want, to dream.”

At the heart of American Hustle is a powerful love story between Irving Rosenfeld and Sydney Prosser, soul mates and business partners. “The love

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20,000 Days On Earth Berlin 2014 Panorama

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rama and reality combine in promotional footage for the new record Push a fictitious 24 hours in the life The Sky Away. As it turned out, in the end, of musician and international they shot everything and the studio footage cultural icon, Nick Cave. With was so compelling we decided to expand startlingly frank insights and an intimate the idea.” portrayal of the artistic process, the Berlin film examines what makes us who we Forsyth & Pollard recognised this 2014 are, and celebrates the transformative Panorama invitation from the resolutely camerapower of the creative spirit. shy Cave was an unmissable, unique opportunity. They started filming, 20,000 Days on Earth is an inventive, lyrical without a plan for what the footage might ode to creativity featuring the musician and become, and with unprecedented cultural icon Nick Cave. The film fuses drama access began to capture extraordinary and reality by weaving the journey of a moments of Cave’s creative process. fictional day in the life of the rock star, with an intimate portrayal of his artistic process. “Nick’s surprisingly brutal with his ideas, It is the debut directorial feature film by songs mutate at speed and lyrics are innovative visual artists Iain Forsyth & Jane slashed and forgotten” says Pollard of the Pollard and is set to an original score by Nick time spent filming in Cave’s office and the Cave and Warren Ellis. Iain Forsyth & Jane recording studio during the first half of Pollard have worked extensively with Cave 2012. “Instinctively we knew what we were on various projects over the past seven years shooting had to form the starting point for a and now know him very well. Cave says, film, so we began to dream up ideas of what that might be”, Forsyth adds. “I’ve always liked their unorthodox approach to things and on a personal level we have Next Cave agreed to hand over his always gotten on very well. I invited them notebooks, which proved fertile ground for into La Fabrique Studios to film some the filmmakers. “We were able to trace the

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transformation of his ideas”, says Forsyth. “We found disparate phrases which instantly sparked ideas that excited us. This included a calculation to work out how many days he had been alive for on the day they started recording the album, next to the unusually coined phrase ‘20,000 days on earth’.” Pollard adds, “We began to work with the idea of what makes us who we are and what we do with our time on earth.” The phrase eventually spawned the opening line of the film and the pair resolved to structure the film around a fictional narrative of Nick’s 20,000th day. Cave adds, “This day is both more real and less real, more true and less true, more interesting and less interesting than my actual day, depending on how you look at it.” 20,000 Days on Earth is not a solemn, deferential portrait of an acclaimed musician. Instead, the directors were much more interested in probing universal themes including mortality, our time on earth and how we spend that time. Forsyth & Pollard’s use of wit and humour deflects and deflates any hint of pomposity. “We believe you can have a tremendously moving or inspirational film and still have moments that are raucously funny,” says Pollard. “It’s not a slight thing to be able to make people laugh. It’s an incredible thing. The audience gets to shuffle, become active and then reset a bit, when there is a laugh. It refocuses your mind and gets it ready to take on something else.”

it’s a timing thing. If you can cut comedy, if you can make the timing of scenes work and hold the humour in them, then you will get what we were trying to do.” But it is the sheer artistry and vision of Forsyth & Pollard that elevate the film beyond the realm of a regular music documentary. It is their ambition and ability to communicate a feeling to us. “Our way of making art is to start by defining the emotion we want the person experiencing it to feel,” says Pollard. “With 20,000 Dayson Earth it is about letting other people feel what you feel when you get to know Nick. You’re inspired and impressed. We want you to get to the end of the film and feel fired up, to think ‘I need to be better, I need to do more’. Anybody can have an idea. You’ve just got to see it through.” It was apparent early on to Bowen and Wilson that Forsyth and Pollard’s approach could appeal not just to Nick Cave fans, but to lovers of cinema and great storytelling. “They found this magical balance between the real and the fictitious with these bold ideas for situations they were creating,” Bowen explains. “Iain and Jane have always approached their work with the audience in mind, and this is the ultimate example of a film that is unique and ambitious, but also totally accessible.”

The directors were thrilled when editor Jonathan Amos instantly understood this, appreciating the comedy in the material. They chose Amos precisely because of his credits, which include the sharp UK comedies Peep Show and Pramface for TV, and features including Attack The Block and Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. “Humour was the really big thing for us,” says Forsyth. “We wanted to make a funny film. Nick is funny. The whole band are. Spending time with them can be hilarious, and we wanted to reflect that. But more importantly,

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Nymphomaniac BERLIN - 2014

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ymphomaniac is a wild, poetic drama about a woman’s erotic journey from birth to the age of 50 as told by the main character, the self-diagnosed nymphomaniac, Joe. On a cold winter’s evening, the old, charming bachelor Seligman finds Joe beaten up in an alleyway. He brings her home to his flat where he tends to her wounds while asking her about her life. He listens intently as Joe, over the next eight chapters, recounts the lustful story of her highly erotic life. Seligman reads a lot of books, from which he has acquired various general knowledge. He connects the stories told with what he has read about. The story is divided in two volumes and eight chapters, Volume I follows young Joe as portrayed by Stacy Martin, while the older Joe in Seligman’s apartment is played by Gainsbourg, and Volume II follows Joe

as portrayed by Gainsbourg. Principal photography occurred between August 28 and November 9, 2012 in Cologne and Hilden, Germany, and in Belgium. To produce scenes of unsimulated sex, von Trier used digital compositing to superimpose the genitals of pornographic film actors onto the bodies of the film’s actors. Producer Louise Vesth explained: We shot the actors pretending to have sex and then had the body doubles, who really did have sex, and in post we will digital impose the two. So above the waist it will be the star and the below the waist it will be the doubles. Gainsbourg and Martin further revealed that prosthetic vaginas and closed sets were used during filming. Martin stated that her acting experience for the film was enjoyable and, after explaining that the film’s characters are a reflection of the director himself, referred to the process as an “honour

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Universal Film Issue 12 - 2014

Yves Saint Laurent

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aris, 1957. Yves Saint Laurent, aged merely 21, had been unexpectedly called upon to oversee the great fashion house established by the recently deceased Christian Dior. All eyes turned to this very young assistant as he presents his first haute couture collection for Dior. During the highly successful and ground-breaking show, Yves Saint Laurent met Pierre Bergé future love of his life and lifelong business partner. Three years later, they created the Yves Saint Laurent Company, which became one of the most famous brands in fashion and luxury. Despite his own doubts and demons, Yves Saint Laurent, fostered by Pierre Bergé, managed to turn the sleepy world of fashion upside down. Q&A with Jalil Lespert (Director) How did it all start? I wanted to tell a powerful, epic love story. I also wanted to portray characters striving to make their dreams come true. As I was thinking over what I wanted to do for my new project, I came up with the idea of YVES SAINT LAURENT. I was thrilled to make a film about the great French designer and Pierre Bergé. What was it about Yves Saint Laurent’s life and career that got you so excited? To start with, I am extremely impressed by Yves’ unique charisma, but also by his vulnerability and innocence. He was tremendously clever and uncompromisingly dedicated to his art. Then, I was deeply moved by his lifelong love story with Pierre Bergé. Then again, in addition to the love story, Yves was obviously an amazing creative force. He was a true creator, who was immensely productive, and always ahead of his time – he was a true avant-gardist. Beyond his

creations, he understood how important clothes were in daily life – he came up with suits for modern women, at a time when women were still considered as second-class citizens. He wasn’t so much an observer of his times as a contributor to them. He was bold enough to have women wear men’s clothes, including tuxedo jackets and pants, without ever denying their femininity. At the time, this was extremely groundbreaking stuff. What kind of research did you do? I guess I probably read and saw everything even remotely related to Yves Saint Laurent. I had to do my homework because, at the beginning, I didn’t know much about him and because in the books I could get hold of there was hardly anything about Yves’ private life. As a result, I had to double-check all the info and piece everything together. It was a long, painstaking process. I was able to put together his life story over the course of twenty years. Then I chose to take some distance in order to either leave room for fiction or to use facts to add pace and enhance the story’s developments. And then I began shooting the film. How was working with Pierre Bergé during the research process? I wouldn’t have made the film without Pierre’s consent – not because of the important figure he is but because he was his lifelong companion. When it comes to Saint Laurent’s life, Pierre Bergé is an integral part of it – you can’t portray the former without portraying the latter. I needed to feel Pierre was by my side and access specific information only he could give me. I wanted him to share his thoughts and his feelings about the whole enterprise with me. Besides, it was important for me to meet with the “YSL Family” – i.e. the foundation where you can find all those who

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helped with Yves’ creative work. They still feel very close to the designer who passed away only five years ago. I realized from the documentaries I saw that there was a family-like atmosphere in the Saint Laurent house. Naturally I wished to meet each and every one of them. Even though that haute-couture house was already an industry back then, they developed a team spirit. It is a key element as it echoes back to the love story between Yves and Pierre in that it is at once highly private and public. Both aspects are inseparable, like in a theater company. I wanted all that to come across in the film, and so I had to experience it myself first. The film is first and foremost a beautiful love story… What moved me about that story is that it portrays two brilliant characters, including a genius with all that it entails in terms of flaws and wounds. Moreover, Yves was manic-depressive and diagnosed as such by doctors. What drew me in was how the two protagonists made it possible to live a lifelong relationship, despite Yves’ disease and work pressure. They were able to keep their dream going and to push the limits – the further they went, the more their love story was put to the test, and the better it survived every obstacle. This is why it is such an unprecedented, exhilarating love story. The intensity of feelings is increased a hundred fold…

is all the more exciting when it is limited by a number of standards – I believe that constraints stimulate creativity. My guess is that Saint Laurent must have suffered from it because he was a free spirit deep down. Now, he had to face a lot of responsibilities at a very young age. You have kept away from portraying Yves too flatteringly – instead, you present him as a vulnerable, moving figure, but also as an unfaithful, irritable man. This is the story of a man who was dazzlingly brilliant in his trade for twenty years – from 1956 to 1976. At 21, Yves experienced glory and love. He was actually promoted artistic director of Dior overnight, which came as an overwhelming responsibility for such a young man. The Dior house was a huge French company in those days. Around the same time, he met Pierre Bergé and they spent the next eighteen years together. Then Yves started his own brand and his own house. He was the first to make hautecouture more democratic by applying the same high-quality standards of hautecouture to ready-to-wear.

There are probably connections from an industrial perspective. There is a lot of money involved and there are actual economic challenges that totally elude freespirited artists! There may be some kind of confinement about the creative process, but my belief is that Yves overcame all of this. The way I see it, he had this strong feeling that he’d be artistically limited if he stuck to fashion design – although it was a tremendous success, he must have felt anxious somehow about doing “just” that. And yet, creation

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THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL

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HE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL recounts the adventures of Gustave H, a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars; and Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes his most trusted friend.

The creative team includes producers Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson, executive producers Molly Cooper, Charlie Woebcken, Christoph Fisser and Henning Molfenter, co-producer Jane Frazer, director of photography Robert Berlin Yeoman, A.S.C., production designer The story involves the theft and Adam Stockhausen, editor Barney recovery of a priceless Renaissance 2014 Pilling, music supervisor Randall painting; a raging battle for an Poster, original music by Alexandre enormous family fortune; and the Desplat, associate producer Octavia sweetest confection of a love affair – all Peissel and co-producer for Scott Rudin against the backdrop of a suddenly and Productions Eli Bush. dramatically changing Continent. THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL: a caper Fox Searchlight Pictures in association with in constant motion, kinetic and comic; Indian Paintbrush and Studio Babelsberg a timeless tale of friendship, honor, and present, an American Empirical Picture, promises fulfilled. Director Wes Anderson THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, directed says his eighth feature film comes from a and written by Wes Anderson and story by mix of inspirations including the pre-code Anderson & Hugo Guinness. comedies of the 1930’s and the stories and memoirs of Viennese writer Stefan Zweig. The film stars Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, F. Murray Abraham, Mathieu Amalric, Adrien “I had an idea with my friend Hugo,” recalls Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Jude Anderson of the script’s beginnings. “He and Law, Bill Murray, Edward Norton, Saoirse I had talked for some years about a character Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, inspired by a friend of ours, an exceptionally, Tom Wilkinson and Owen Wilson. supremely charming person with a unique

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and wonderful way with words and a very special view of life. Someone unlike anyone else we know in the world. Then, separately, I had this thought to make a kind of a European movie – inspired especially by Stefan Zweig, a writer who I’ve come to really love in the last several years. There were some other things that I was reading that might not seem connected to this movie, like Hannah Arendt’s ‘Eichmann in Jerusalem,’ which had very little directly to do with this, but it contains a fascinating analysis of how each country in Europe responded to the Nazis, and how the whole place came unglued; as well as ‘Suite Française’ by Irène Némirovsky. Those were some of the things I started with, and I mixed them with the idea that Hugo and I had about this friend of ours. And that’s what this movie is, sort of, in a way.” Anderson set his tale in a fictional spa town in the imaginary country of alpine Zubrowka, for which he created not only a complete visual aesthetic but also a cohesive 20th Century history mirroring Eastern Europe, with a fascist takeover in the thirties and a Communist period after that – but also a more distant past in the vein of the belle epoque. “Every time Wes makes a film, it’s a whole world, and there’s a whole universe to be created along with it,” says producer Jeremy Dawson, who has worked with Anderson on MOONRISE KINGDOM, FANTASTIC MR. FOX and THE DARJEELING LIMITED. “Here, he has created an entirely fictional part of Eastern Europe known as The Republic of Zubrowka, and in Zubrowka we find one of those great spa towns that cropped up all over before the turn of the century. The story really came from his interest in that time period, that history, that world; and also a certain type of character who is our Monsieur Gustave, the concierge at this grand hotel. So his idea of both the character and this entire world merged together, and

Wes turned out this great script. Then the script, the acting and direction all combined to become something different even than it was on the page.” Anderson wrote the part of Monsieur Gustave H, the fastidious concierge at the heart of the film, with one actor in mind: Ralph Fiennes, a two-time Oscar® nominee for SCHINDLER’S LIST and THE ENGLISH PATIENT. “The idea that Ralph was going to play this character enriched it completely,” says Dawson. “He just disappears into that persona until you simply say, ‘that’s Monsieur Gustave.’” Fiennes immersed himself fully into the character’s many contradictions. “Gustave is insecure, vain and needy, as it says in the script, but he’s also a very fastidious man who has a strong sense of principle rooted in this idea of how you look after people,” the actor observes. He especially enjoyed Gustave’s paternal relationship with young Zero, whom he selects as a potential protégé in the neverending battle against the coarseness of the world. “To Gustave, Zero is an innocent, inexperienced in the ways of the world and in need of instruction. But they ultimately become equal brothers-in-arms,” notes Fiennes. Fiennes was inspired by his first collaboration with Anderson, who, he notes, has a way of seeing the world that is one-of-a-kind. “With THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, Wes has created a true caper comedy with disguises and chases and escapes, yet there’s always that bittersweet undertone that is so distinctive,” he says. “His films always have this idiosyncratic lightness of touch inside which lie strong themes and emotions. It’s an unusual blend that no one else can repeat because it comes from inside Wes, from his personal sense of humor and perception of the world.”

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Last Hijack

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FM interview with the films directors, Tommy Pallotta and Femek Wolting.

What sparked your interest in the issue of piracy in Somalia, and how did you decide to develop a feature .lm on this subject? We were watching news reports and the image of these tiny boats versus the huge oil tankers fascinated us. We wondered what drove these men to take such enormous risks. As we researched further and found out about all the underlying aspects of piracy, the waste dumping in the waters around Somalia and the broader impact of piracy on Somalian society we got even more interested. Most media stories and news stories reported on Western ships being hijacked and the experiences of the passengers. That made us curious to know more about the pirates themselves. When we started to look into it, we

quickly became fascinated by how the pirates were perceived within their own communities. Until recently they were seen as heroes, as the little guys who fought the big Western ships. And many people also profited from their actions, whether directly or indirectly. But then things began to change. A whole generation of young men disappeared, were thrown in jail or simply vanished at sea. That had an enormous impact on the people who were left behind, the families and the women. People in Somalia turned their backs on the pirates. This tension interested us, and made us to decide to make a .lm from the perspective of the pirates and their families. Was it clear from the start that this .lm would be something else than a ‘classic’ documentary? We clicked with the subject because we immediately thought it would be ideal to combine animation and documentary footage. We didn’t want to make an observational

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documentary. Because the hijacks were something you could never be part of. Once we thought of the combination opened up so many possibilities. Through the animation we could view the world through the eyes of the pirates. We could visualize their subjective reality, their dreams, from their memories of the civil war to the hijacks they had undertaken. Documentary, fiction, animation and interactive media have all been combined frequently throughout both of your filmmaking careers. What inspires this openness to hybrid forms? Do you think these kinds of projects will take on a larger importance in the industry in future years? We are interested in hybrid forms because they offer so many more possibilities in terms of storytelling. In terms of non-fiction, they challenge the idea of objective reality that a documentary should capture. So LAST HIJACK is a hybrid incorporating live action and animation, but also feature film and documentary. Feature films and documentaries have been made for more than a century, and there are still all these conventions of genres and specific ways to tell a story. We are excited about these new hybrid forms because you can experiment and search for new forms of storytelling that don’t yet have rules. More and more feature films combine live action, effects and animation to create new worlds, and now that is possible in documentaries too. Tell us about your experience working on similarly “non-traditional projects” with directors such as Richard Linklater (WAKING LIFE, A SCANNER DARKLY) and Peter Greenaway (REMBRANDT’S J’ACCUSE). Currently we are shooting a feature film by Peter Greenaway in Mexico, called Eisenstein in Guanajuato. It’s a love story about the famous Russian filmmaker Eisenstein, and how he felt in love for the first time when he was making a .lm in Mexico. It’s a feature Film but Greenaway mixes archive footage from Eisenstein and his films in the fictional narrative. Also we just started working on a new .lm for a Hollywood

studio, a feature Film that is a hybrid as well, half live action and half animated. Somali pirates have lately ben represented in several documentary and fiction films (CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, A HIJACKING, STOLEN SEAS, FISHING WITHOUT NETS). What do you think has inspired this widespread interest? Do you have an opinion on the films made as a result, and how is your .lm different? Pirates are such an iconic image, something we imagine from old stories and movies, but they still exist in our modern globalized world. I think that’s why it’s a fascinating phenomenon for filmmakers, both for feature .lm directors as well as documentary Filmmakers. We enjoyed films like Captain Phillips as a roller-coaster thriller but these films are made from a purely Western point of view. Last Hijack is the only .lm that is made from the perspective of the pirates, and actually shot in Somalia. Somalia is one of the most dangerous countries in the world, that’s why hardly anybody actually goes there. All the films mentioned were made elsewhere, in Kenya for example, so they can never be truly representative of the Somali perspective. What was the artistic process for creating the animated sequences? Were there any specific inspirations for the style of the animation? It was different for every sequence; sometimes it would be a recreation of a memory, sometimes a dream. The challenge of the .lm was finding the balance between animation and documentary footage finding a way to go in and out without breaking the viewer’s experience. We storyboarded probably about three times as many sequences as we used and it was really a process of trial and error. We would experiment with a storyboard sequence, placing it next to or in between our documentary footage. Then we had to be critical and ask why it was there and how it changed the context of the footage around it. The more subjective and fantastic pieces were, of course, more fun.

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Joey L. Highlights Ethiopian Narrative with Zylight Film Shoot Relies on Battery-Powered F8 LED Fresnel in Remote Region of Ethiopia

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ounded in 2003, Zylight LLC is the leading manufacturer of intelligent LED lighting instruments for the film and video production industry. Every model in its easy-to-use lighting system produces fully calibrated bright white light, while some also provide a spectrum of adjustable colors without gels. Full wireless control and DMX integration are included, and AC or DC power options are available. Known professionally as Joey L., Joey Lawrence is a still photographer by trade and still new at directing live action projects. The story of his new short film, People of the Delta, was developed from his five years of photography work in Southern Ethiopia. Shot on location in the region, the project relied heavily on the Zylight F8 LED Fresnel when conditions proved problematic for HMI lighting instruments.

documentary, with a script inspired from stories Lawrence heard while working in the area. Funded through a Kickstarter campaign, the film was shot with an ARRI Alexa camera over about four weeks in Ethiopia last fall and is currently being edited. It was the first time he used it for a shoot, but Zylight’s daylight-balanced F8 LED Fresnel quickly became Lawrence’s lighting instrument of choice for People of the Delta. “It saved us in so many situations,” he said. The script called for a lot of scenes inside huts, which are built from sticks and have sunlight streaming through the doorways. Director of photography Sean Stiegemeier prefers to shoot with natural light and supplement with lighting instruments, Lawrence explained, and the F8 allowed the crew to get more exposure and depth.

People of the Delta is a narrative, not a

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Lawrence also used an IS3c, Zylight’s LED wash light with adjustable color temperature and custom soft box, as a fill light and for color effects. For example, its built-in color control, which produces millions of colors without gels or filters, was used to replicate firelight in one scene. The crew packed HMI lights for the shoot, but some bulbs broke during transport on the bumpy roads of the region. Power was also a significant issue. With a small crew in one of the most remote places in the world, it was challenge to transport a generator, as well as acquire and transport gasoline. Plus, as Lawrence said, power fluctuations and an unsteady current can damage an HMI bulb, so a stabilizer in the generator was required to protect the HMIs on location. In contrast, the battery-powered F8 did not suffer damage from the rough roads, and was invaluable on location when power was questionable. “The F8 is way more robust. The shoot would have taken forever with a more traditional setup,” Lawrence said. “I was surprised how bright the F8 was and how long it could last on one battery. I never thought it could do so much. It really is good stuff.” After People of the Delta wrapped, Joey L. stayed in the area to complete a still photo shoot with his Canon EOS 5D Mark III. Instead of his usual strobe flash, however, he used the F8 to light his subjects. “I don’t shoot in broad daylight,” he explained. “I shoot at sunrise and sunset. In those kinds of situations, a constant light is so much nicer than using a strobe. You get an instant preview, and you need way less setup time and test shots.”

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NIKON D4s Sensor Nikon’s D4, exceptional images at exceptional speed. An expanded ISO range and EXPEED 4 image processing take low light photography to another level, making the D4S a master of the dark as well as the light. Advances to AF performance offer improved acquisition and tracking at 11 fps, plus much finer control over the AF area with the new Group Area AF mode. Nikon’s RAW Size S file format accelerates image transfer onto networks and a Gigabit 100/1000TX Ethernet port enables ultrafast connection. Hiro Sebata, Professional Product Manager at Nikon UK, comments: “The Nikon D4S follows the success of the D4 and brings with it a new level of performance designed to meet the needs of the most demanding photographers.” Moving beyond the limits its predecessor was built to push, the D4S blazes a new trail for high-speed professional image making. The camera’s revamped sensor offers the ultimate image quality, and the

expanded ISO range of 100–25600 is extendable up to an industry-leading 409600 (equivalent). Nikon’s new EXPEED 4 image processing engine boosts the camera’s overall performance to a whole new level, vastly improving image rendering and ISO performance. The D4S delivers outstanding results in the kind of ‘dirty’ low light conditions many sports and news photographers are confronted with. The burst rate of 11 fps is not compromised by ISO settings or lens choice, and details are rendered sharp and exceptionally well defined even when Noise Reduction filtering is applied. As with the D4, the D4S is built to sustain peak performance in the most demanding environmental conditions imaginable. The camera is protected by a tough weathersealed full metal body and features subtle details that make all the difference to

handling: changes to button layout and reshaped control buttons improve operation in damp conditions whilst the re-contoured design and smoother grip make it easier to hold out in the field... Everything about the D4S is built around the need for speed. The frame-per-second with autofocus tracking has increased from 10 fps to 11 fps, making the D4S the fastest autofocus D-SLR-camera in Nikon’s history. The camera implements a Gigabit 100/1000TX Ethernet port and offers a new RAW Size S option for accelerated image transfer. When milliseconds matter, the shutter’s 42 ms lag can gain you the critical edge, taking

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Shutter Unit

XQD & CF are now possible at 50p/60p, a n d

pictures in less than the blink of an eye; and a completely new shutter and mirror mechanism reduces mirror bounce, delivering a stable viewfinder image with minimal viewfinder blackout when shooting at high speed. The D4S takes the classleading accuracy and usability of Nikon’s renowned 51-point AF system and advances it further. In addition to improved lock-on, expanded ‘Store by orientation’, and new options for AF mode restrictions, the D4S boasts a brand new Group Area AF mode. Designed to allow much finer control over the size of the autofocus area, Group Area AF constantly monitors five different AF fields, which

can be shifted across the 51-point array as composition demands. Shooting in this mode enables fast moving subjects to be tracked with phenomenal precision over long distances, and greatly improves acquisition and background isolation when shooting subjects that are comparatively small and close to a high-contrast or distracting background. As with the D4, the AF system inside the D4S is configurable in 9-point, 21-point and 51-point coverage settings and sensitive down to -2 EV (ISO 100, 20°C/68°F). Multi-area D-Movie evolves For moviemaking in diverse conditions, the D4S offers broadcastquality video in multiple frame formats and boasts a range of operational enhancements that allow more control over footage while filming and improve sound recording. D-movies

photographers can set sensitivity and select maximum ISO in M mode, plus select the sensor crop format, control power aperture, and fix shutter speed. In addition, Nikon’s 3D noise reduction reduces random noise and noise flicker when filming at high sensitivities. As with the D4, the D4S offers three sensor crop formats, FX, DX, and native crop (approximately 2.7x) and uncompressed fullresolution HDMI output to external devices. You can simultaneously record full resolution HD movies in-camera and with an external recorder via HDMI (an HDMI cable clip is provided with the camera for a secure connection). Sound recording has improved thanks to more options for audio control, including the option to select the sound range (wide/voice), and reduce wind noise when recording with the built-in microphone.

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HHB debut of Avid S6 and wins Avid Partner Award at BVE

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HB Communications Ltd. is hosting the exclusive UK debut of the new Avid S6 control surface with audio post specialist Scrub at BVE 2014 on Stand H57.

BVE visitors will be the first in the UK to view the S6 control surface and get indepth demonstrations of the console to highlight the many ways it offers a new level of control for Pro Tools and other DAWs. The S6 leverages the best of industry leading ICON and System 5 families in a revolutionary new modular design. From extensive visual feedback to an integrated touchscreen, S6 provides a truly immersive experience in an array of pre-configured formats, or as a bespoke system.

of professional audio technology and we are very pleased to be recognised as leaders in the field. Our team of dedicated Pro Tools specialists are revered by the industry as a trusted source of support for Avid’s range of Pro Tools systems. We will continue to provide the high levels of support that our customers have come to expect with new Pro Tools systems like the S6 console.” Visit HHB to see the latest Pro Tools 11 software, talk to the most experienced Pro Tools specialists about S6 and collect a free copy of the HHB Pro Audio Report, an expert guide to the latest pro audio technologies and trends for the broadcast, education, music recording, OB, post, radio, television and video games markets.

HHB is also being awarded Avid’s Pro Audio Partner of 2013 award in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) for excellence in Pro Tools sales and support in the region at BVE. Avid Pro Audio Sales Manager - EMEA North Ben Nemes comments: “HHB and Scrub are an extremely talented group of people and one of Europe’s most knowledgeable Pro Tools specialists. From leading post houses to world renowned recording studios and broadcasters, HHB is relied on for technical and sales support by Europe’s biggest Pro Tools users. We are very happy to honour them for their outstanding services.” HHB Group Sales Director Steve Angel states: “Avid is always at the cutting edge

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THE TURNING CREATED BY ROBERT CONNOLLY BASED ON THE BOOK ‘THE TURNING’ BY TIM WINTON

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im Winton’s THE TURNING is a unique cinema event. Seventeen talented Australian directors from diverse artistic disciplines each create a chapter of the hauntingly beautiful novel by multi award-winning author Tim Winton.

The linking and overlapping stories explore the extraordinary turning points in ordinary people’s lives in a stunning portrait of a small coastal community. As characters face second thoughts and regret, relationships irretrievably alter, resolves are made or broken, and lives change direction forever. This watershed .lm reinterprets and re-imagines the work for the screen. Tim Winton’s The Turning is a unique book amongst Tim’s wonderfully diverse body of work, a collection of individual stories that combine in a rich and complex portrait of a familiar and confronting world. It is an innovative adrenalin rush of a read, a cryptic jigsaw puzzle of a book that continues to reveal its heart-breaking secrets with each read.

ing only if any of the stories particularly spoke to the filmmaker, affecting them in a way that compelled them to tell that story. Like all great works of literature, The Turning offers up so many permutations, interpretations and points of entry for the reader. The responses to our invitation reflected this, each person finding something very different in The Turning, with surprisingly no battles over individual chapters, each filmmaker choosing their own story in the compendium in an effortless selection. We also chose not to enforce any style choices across the chapters, avoided linking characters with common cast, allowed different location choices that spoke more specifically of each response. The Filmmakers were subsequently liberated from any of the usual expectations of both the short and feature .lm form and the creative limitations imposed by traditional production methodologies.

Embarking upon this cinematic adventure posed a unique challenge as we explored ways to adapt The Turning for the screen. We began by extending a personal invitation to various people whose work we admired, to interpret one chapter each with an open brief to respond in their own style and form. Choosing to focus on these original interpretations and responses to each chapter, we extended the invitation not only to established Filmmakers, but to choreographers, photographers, actors, animators and visual artists. We sent out copies of the book without any broader creative brief, ask-

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71 Starring Jack O Conell

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young British soldier is accidentally Ceesay). The platoon’s makeshift dorm in an abandoned by his unit following abandoned school is bleak and dilapidated. a riot on the streets of Belfast in “Don’t worry,” the Corporal reassures them, 1971. Unable to tell friend from “you’ll only be staying here ‘til one of the foe, and increasingly wary of his own paddies shoot you.” Lieutenant Armitage comrades, the raw recruit must survive (Sam Reid) introduces himself to the the night alone and find his way to Berlin platoon of which he is newly in charge. safety through a disorientating, alien Hook and the other men sense the and deadly landscape. 2014 officers’ inexperience and are amused by his awkward manner. Later that England, 1971. New recruit Private night, unable to sleep, Hook gets some Gary Hook (Jack O’Connell) expects to be air. Three men in civvies walk past. “MRF stationed in Germany. His superiors have – undercover guys,” warns the corporal, other plans. “Because of the deteriorating “nothing to do with us.” security situation in Belfast,” his platoon is coldly informed, “your regiment is now being A group of junior officers, including Armitage, deployed there on an emergency basis.” are briefed about the Belfast situation by their Before he’s stationed to Northern Ireland, Commanding Officer (Sam Hazeldine). The Hook breaks the news to his 10 year-old city is divided between Protestant Loyalist brother, Darren (Harry Verity). areas (“friendly”), and the Catholic Nationalist areas (“hostile”), both with paramilitary He has a farewell kick around and returns factions. Darren to the Children’s Home where they have both been brought up, promising he’ll To complicate matters, the Nationalist be “back soon”. movement is at war with its own: the “official” IRA (Irish Republican Army) against Hook and his platoon are marched into their the younger, radical street-gangs – the Belfast barracks by their Corporal (Babou “Provisional” IRA. The officers are warned

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not to enter a particularly dangerous housing estate which is a Republican stronghold, the Divis Flats. The platoon’s first assignment is to assist the RUC (the Royal Ulster Constabulary) in a house search in the Catholic Community. Armitage vetoes the use of riot gear and the platoon leave in their truck, without helmets or shields. Armitage’s men arrive at their RV point. Nationalist kids greet them with a barrage of urine-filled balloons and parcels of excrement. The platoon laugh it off. Led by an armoured Humber Pig, the RUC arrive and the convoy continues to a terraced Catholic street. There are signs of fortification, streets and alleys blocked by burnt out, and burning, vehicles. There are obvious signs of previous trouble and the street resembles a war zone. Women bash dustbin lids on the pavement to signal the army’s arrival. The soldiers dismount and cordon off the target house which the RUC quickly enter.

REAL LIFE STORIES OF STRUGGLE AND COURAGE FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Jack O’Connell -Gary Hook A graduate from Performing Arts College Jack made his acting debut in 2005. In 2006 his film debut followed with the role of ‘Pukey’ in the critically acclaimed This is England. Following this he appeared in Eden Lake opposite Michael Fassbender and Kelly Reilly, and in Harry Brown with Michael Caine. Other film credits include Private Peaceful, Tower Block, The Liability and Weekender. Jack reprised the character he played in Skins in the recent TV special ‘Skins Rise’. He also starred in TV movies Wuthering Heights and Dive.

THIS IS OMAR, A TEENAGE REFUGEE FROM SOMALIA.

This year Jack can be seen in 300: Rise of an Empire and in David Mackenzie’s Starred Up, which premiered to great acclaim at the Toronto and London film festivals and earned Jack a BIFA nomination for Best Actor. Most recently Jack has been shooting Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken, a chronicle of the life of Olympic runner Louis Zamperini which is set for release in December 2014.

CHILDREN OF THE JAGUAR

In TV Jack has starred in the critically acclaimed Sky drama The Runaway and as Bobby Charlton in United but Jack is perhaps best known for his recurring role in the E4 drama Skins. Jack’s recent theatre credits include ‘Scarborough’, ‘The Spidermen’, ‘The Musicians’ and ‘Just’.

A LIFE ON HOLD

IS A NEW FILM ABOUT OMAR’S LIFE IN A REFUGEE CAMP IN TUNISIA. WATCH AT AMNESTY.ORG/REFUGEES

AN INDIGENOUS COMMUNITY IN THE AMAZON JUNGLE TAKE ON THE COMBINED MIGHT OF THE GOVERNMENT AND AN OIL COMPANY IN ORDER TO SAVE THEIR WAY OF LIFE AND THE RAINFOREST THEY LIVE IN.

WATCH AT BIT.LY/JAGUAR-TRAILER

Find out more: avproduction@amnesty.org

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With over 25 years’ experience in color correction, DaVinci Resolve is the world’s most loved high end color grading system! Only DaVinci Resolve is designed to be real time all the time, so it keeps up with you when you’re working on demanding client jobs. With the most creative toolset and highest image quality, it’s easy to see why DaVinci Resolve is used on more Hollywood feature films, syndicated network television series, music videos and high end television commercials than any other system.

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Universal Film Issue 12 - 2014

NIPROS TO INTRODUCE NEW LCD MONITOR/VIEWFINDERS

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AS VEGAS NAB BOOTH #N314— At the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show in Las Vegas April 5-10, Nipros, sold and supported exclusively in the Americas by full-service alliance partner Samaserve, will introduce two new combination monitor/viewfinders to its expanding line of camera conversion systems and accessories. The new 5-inch (diagonal) HDF-HR500 and HDF-500 full HD color monitors/ viewfinders are designed to mount directly to the durable and highly flexible Nipros camera agnostic HDS-300 rig which is compatible with any video camera on the market today, including 4K units from Blackmagic Design, Canon and Sony.

“The Nipros system portfolio continues to grow to meet customer demand for more features and functionality,” said Sal Sandoval, CTO at Samaserve. “Our camera agnostic system message is resonating with broadcasters and production studios that own multiple brand cameras and want to make the most use from those investments. These new Monitor/Viewfinders offer expanded functionality in a very small package.”

x 69.9 mm, both models also include BNC connectors (3G/HD/SD) for main (with an active loop-through) and RETURN video, and feature built-in test & measurement software that includes waveform, vectorscope, white balance and other visual parameters that can be displayed full screen or in multi-view mode. Power consumption is approximately 19W on the HDF-HR500 and 15 watts on the HDF-500 model. Additionally, both units are field upgradeable via a built-in Mini-USB port. About Samaserve Samaserve is the exclusive North and South American distributor of the Nipros line of teleproduction equipment and camera accessories, including camera adapters, viewfinders, camera sleds, mounting plates, shoulder camcorder mounting accessories, and a full range of signal conversion products. For more information, visit www.niprosam.com

The 5-inch HDF-HR500 includes a highquality 1920x1080 HD LCD screen that features a variety of BNC connector types (HDMI, Component, RGB and Composite) as well as built-in stereo headphone jack, remote control, Tally and Mono speaker. The HDF-500 version is similar in size, weight, and functionality but features an 800 x 480 resolution LCD screen with a narrower viewing angle. Measuring approximately approx. 180 x 117

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18th - 20th March 2014

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Universal Film Issue 12 - 2014

For actors, TV/film production crew, musicians and performers. Apply for auditions, castings BS JO and TV/film production jobs. AID ED P

T LIS LY! ON

The Lamb (Kuzu)

by Flossie Topping

The Lamb is the latest film from Turkish director Kutluğ Ataman (2 Girls, Lola and Billy the Kid), telling the story of Mert and his family, who live in the snowy highlands of Anatolia. It’s a beautifully observed and atmospheric film, depicting village life in one of Turkey’s poorest communities.

Visit www.mediavolt.co.uk

BOSIFEST 2014 – The Fifth Belgrade International Film Festival for and by People with Disabilities Submissions for BOSIFEST 2014 are now open. Submissions are open from Wednesday, January 22nd, 2014 until Saturday, March 22nd, 2014. The official selection results will be announced on Saturday, May 10th, 2014.BOSIFEST 2014 will be held from 2th to 4th June 2014 The festival is competitive, the entire program consists of both competitive and non-competitive parts. Films that are not chosen for the competition part of the program, and meet the requirements of the competition, will be in the non-competitive part of the program.

When young Mert is circumcised, it is customary for the family to host a feast to celebrate, but instead of buying a lamb to roast, Mert’s father is spending all his earnings visiting a prostitute in the city. Mert’s sister tells him that if the family can’t find a lamb, they will roast him instead, and so Mert runs away and tries to find a lamb himself. Mert (Mert Tastan) is a sweet character, and acts well despite this being his first film role. However is it his mother Medine (Nesrin Cavadzade) who steals the show, by confronting her husband’s mistress and looking after her two children in difficult circumstances. After Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Nuri Bilge Ceylan) was released in 2011, and won the Grand Jury prize at Cannes, the world now recognizes Turkey for the brave filmmaking that is becoming a more frequent export. This year, the Turkish Film Industry celebrates its 100th year of filmmaking, with a record four Turkish feature films and one short film playing in the festival.

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Vaughan Film Festival announces 2014 Film line-up

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oronto, Ontario February 24, 2014 - Media are invited to attend the 2nd Annual Vaughan Film Festival press conference, Monday, March 3, 2014 at Cineplex Colossus Vaughan Cinemas. The event will be hosted by Michelle Beilhartz, from Season 1 of the Bachelor Canada. VFF Co-Founders Mark Pagliaroli and Antonio Ienco will roll out this year’s film line-up and events taking place during the festival. The winners of two special initiatives sponsored by the festival in the Vaughan community will also be announced. In attendance will be the Mayor of Vaughan and member of the Vaughan Film Festival Advisory Board, The Honourable Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua, Festival Sponsors and members of the film community. VFF is proud to announce the return of award winning actress Fatima Ptacek to this year’s film festival. Ms. Ptacek starred as Sophie, in Shawn Christensen’s Oscar winning short film “Curfew”, first screened at the Vaughan Film Festival, 2013.

Ms. Ptacek will be attending events throughout the festival. Vaughan Film Festival runs from April 2nd - 4th, 2014. VFF’S goal is to give aspiring filmmakers the opportunity to showcase their talent and interact with other members of the film community. The festival is especially proud to provide a platform that opens doors to allow entry for young filmmakers in and around the Vaughan community. Vaughan Film Festival 2014 - Cineplex Colossus Vaughan Cinemas - Monday, March 3, 2014

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Film Production & Co-Productions

Film Productions/Co-Productions Post Production/Special Eects Crew/location scouting

CLASSIC MEDIA ENTERTAINMENT An award winning production company 43 CMEFILMS | e-mail info@cmefilms.co.uk | www.cmefilms.co.uk Skype: www.ufmag.biz


Universal Film Issue 12 - 2014

Groucho Club

Private Members Forum Paedophile Network Paedophile network operating on the Groucho Club private members forum for almost a year unhindered

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FM has written about the infamous Groucho Club on a number of occasions and has highlighted such issues as the illegal electronic surveillance, shoddy health and safety record and club employees spying on its own neighbours by taking photographs through a fourth floor bedroom window and much more. These issues, however repugnant they may seem to our readers, pale in significance to the brutal unsolved rape that occurred in the dark corridors of the club, or the discovery of one of the largest networks of paedophiles in UK history operating on the Groucho Club’s own members’ forum for almost a year. This network went unchallenged, was never reported to the authorities, and operated with complete impunity throughout this time.

During the period, Murphy was under close surveillance for almost a year. Strangers were observed going through his garbage bins, strange vans parked on his street, and he was followed around the country by private investigators. When one private investigator hired by the Groucho Club solicitors, Devonshire, turned up at Murphy’s home to serve documents, the investigator left a letter with “Covert Investigation” handwritten at the top of the letter. During one of the many court case hearings, the Groucho Club’s solicitors stated to the Court that, “We have it on good information that Mr Murphy regularly visits London on business.” Of course they were right.

“Children on sale for sex as young as 7”

The Groucho Club’s online Private Members’ forum had 42,000 members and 900,000 posts, many of these posts were dedicated entirely to videos and images of young children being advertised for sex. It was eventually discovered by Filmmaker and Publisher, Tyrone D Murphy, who was in a libel battle with the Groucho Club and was investigating the sale of alcohol through the Groucho Club’s website. The libel case went on for a year and a half and Murphy won the case. This was credited to his investigative abilities and his aptitude as a Litigant in Person (he represented himself ).

Murphy was also the subject of an attempted illegal bugging operation, however, because of the current libel laws the perpetrator(s) cannot be named despite being known to Murphy and the police. Furthermore we are not suggesting that this incident is directly related to the Groucho Club. Late one evening, Murphy disturbed a very tall and muscular man with a London accent interfering with the telephone lines at his home in Wales. Murphy tackled the

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perpetrator and after a struggle chased him off the grounds of the property. The perpetrator made a hasty retreat but had no time to pick up his equipment, which included an illegal bugging transmitter and tools. CCTV of the indecent along with the bugging equipment and tools were handed over to the police. Despite the man being positively identified and named, no charges were ever made as the police maintained that the man had not attached the telephone tap to a live telephone line. Murphy was an electronic surveillance specialist for many years and worked for many top blue-chip companies and organizations around the world. Lloyds of London recommended him to clients and he was head of the Technical Surveillance Counter-Measures team (TSCM) that

Bugging: Telephone Tap recovered at Tyrone D Murphy’s home

conducted anti surveillance for the Hughes Aircraft Group of Companies during the McDonald Douglas takeover talks. The company were developing the CASOM Missile at the time, Conventionally Armed Standoff Missile. Murphy is also credited with uncovering a number of high profile illegal bugging operations including the bug discovered at the head offices of Goldcrest TV & Video in London. After Murphy made the discovery of the child pornography network operating on the Groucho Club’s members’ forum he contacted another broadcast journalist who viewed and saved the evidence. Murphy also reported the discovery to the police. After a few days he followed up on the report as he

heard nothing back from the Police. The same process was repeated over and over again for a period of months. According to Murphy, the police were not interested in pursuing a line of inquiry and the Press had even less interest. Twenty-four e-mails and countless phone calls and letters to the Metropolitan Police by Murphy, reporting not only the existence of a well organised paedophile network operating on a massive scale on the Groucho Club’s members’ forum, but also that the evidence was being destroyed and action had to be taken by the police to preserve the evidence. After months of inactivity by the police and a complete failure to take any action whatsoever, Murphy instigated an inquiry with a number of British Members of Parliament. At last now something would be done. When one MP contacted the police he was assured by the police they would act, and act they did, but not in the way one would have expected. The officer put in charge of the case was DCI Graham Grant, the head of Child Abuse Command for the Metropolitan Police. He contacted Murphy and also assured him that he was looking into it. However, Murphy later discovered that DCI Graham Grant’s response to anyone, MP or otherwise querying any failure by the police was to send a hastily drafted report that completely decriminalize and trivialised the whole affair while absolving the Police or Groucho Club of any wrongdoing. All of the main points in the report were fabricated; the report denied that Murphy spent months trying to report the discovery to the police or to CEOP. It was so far-fetched it even denied that current serving Police officers ever existed and that Murphy lost a libel action instigated by the Groucho Club, when in fact it was the other way around, Murphy won the case. The report also described the child abuse network as legal porn. DCI Graham Grant simply issued this report to anyone who took an interest in the case. However, it seems that the police did not count on the report being sent to Murphy by a friendly politician. Upon reading the report, Murphy made an official complaint to the

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Independent Police Complaint Commission, the UK organization that investigates the police in the UK. The whole affair, which included the false report, was now the subject of an official IPCC investigation. The IPCC then selected a senior police officer to conduct the investigation into the affair and report back to the IPCC. Now this is where this gets a little absurd, the Police officer that was tasked by the IPCC to investigate the complaint of the police failures and the false report was none other than DCI Grant, the very same officer who actually wrote the false report in the first place.

addition to this, the police never created an incident number to any of Murphy’s many reports; the Police explanation for this was that it was a procedural oversight. Despite the many reports Murphy made and the mountain of evidence that was provided to the police no arrests were made, no one was ever charged with a criminal offence, and no raids ever took place.

When Murphy contacted the Groucho Club’s Managing Director, Matt Hobbs about the paedophile network, Hobbs initially stated he knew nothing about the paedophile network. Matthew Hobbs was His report of the brought in as the new investigation was managing director of the predictable, Murphy Groucho Club after his appealed. Another officer, predecessor; Margaret the direct subordinate Levin was ousted after of DCI Grant, DI Carroll losses amounting to £2.5 was then selected by Million were discovered. the IPCC to investigate. There was also concern Again DI Carroll’s report over her handling of was predictable, however the now infamous libel there was one interesting Groucho Club: Spying through action which the club change, the report that bedroom windows! embarrassingly lost to a was issued by the police to anyone who queried the failure of the Litigant in Person (Murphy) at the expense police to investigate the child abuse network of hundreds of thousands of pounds in legal was now deemed to be an internal document costs; they also had to pay Murphy’s costs and DI Carroll refused to give Murphy a list of and failed in an attempt to bankrupt Murphy. the recipients of the report. Murphy appealed again and received yet another review of There was also a separate data protection the investigation, the end result being that case in Wales that was brought against the although the IPCC found that elements of club by Murphy over the club’s failure to the Police report were inaccurate, the police provide him with information in relation officer who actually wrote the report, DCI to electronic surveillance at the club. This Graham Grant was due for retirement soon case has now gained legendary status in Wales. The Groucho Club managing director, and no action would be taken against him. a specialist barrister, and two solicitors The police simply appeared to go through travelled to Wales from London for the the motions in what seemed to be a damage hearing. Murphy was conducting his own limitation exercise. They did examine the case and had the former manager of the club Groucho Club’s computers six months after in attendance to support his case. From the Murphy first reported the discovery of the outset of the case, the Groucho solicitors paedophile network and the destruction of behaved in a very haughty manner and the evidence. This action was done with the were warned several times by the judge over permission of the Groucho Club. The police, making flippant remarks. In addition, the rather predictably, found nothing at all. In Groucho Club’s managing director Margaret

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Levin literally lost the plot and shouted at the judge, “Don’t be so bloody mean!” when the judge would not allow her costs for her first class travel to Wales. Her arrogance and contempt towards the court almost saw her jailed for contempt.

network operating on the club’s Private Members’ forum. Although Hobbs maintains that he had absolutely no knowledge about the paedophile network, his comments and actions on several occasions don’t appear to make much sense.

It would seem that at this stage the Groucho Club Chairman, John H J Lewis OBE had had enough and decided to bring in a new Managing Director, Mr. Matt Hobbs. Hobbs had a firm reputation as a trouble shooter; he had previously worked at the Soho House media club and was also a manager at Ronnie Scoots, a famous Jazz club in London’s west end.

On the fourth of January 2010, Tyrone D Murphy contacted Matt Hobbs by telephone and informed him of the paedophile network on the Private Members’ forum and of the destruction of evidence. Hobbs’s response to Murphy was that he had absolutely no knowledge whatsoever about the child pornography network or the destruction of evidence.

He also stated to During this time, Murphy he was going Hobbs made untrue to contact the police. comments to a national Murphy promptly newspaper which led informed him he had to a libel action with done so already months a local Westminster earlier. Murphy asked Counsellor and Hobbs to search Google local resident who while they were both attempted to have on the telephone so the noise from the Mr Hobbs could view Ronnie Scott’s club the evidence of the reduced. Hobbs made paedophile network a public statement for himself. Hobbs flatly that the Counsellor refused. This seems a had a “vendetta” with rather odd reaction the club. Counsellor Roberts then took a Every parent’s nightmare, convicted considering Hobbs was paedophile, singer Ian Watkins the managing director libel action against the of a celebrity and newspaper for printing Hobb’s comments and she won the action. media club and should have been concerned However, what interesting here is that the enough to actually view the evidence to word “vendetta” seems to be used frequently verify Murphy’s allegations. by Hobbs when faced with awkward Murphy later received information from questions from the media. the police that Matt Hobbs’s explanation to When Hobbs joined the Groucho Club as the police was that the Groucho Club had managing director, one would assume he no breaches of their security systems or would have looked at the entire business computers. If we are to believe Matt Hobbs’s and its online profile to assess any potential explanation to the police that the Groucho issues that would need improvement (due Club’s computer servers had no security diligence). A simple Google search by Hobbs breaches, then who is responsible for allowing would have revealed the existence of a very the network of paedophiles to operate within well organized and extensive paedophile the safety of the Groucho Club’s Private

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Members’ forum? This forum was hosted on the club’s own secure computer servers for almost a full year unhindered. Sometime later, Hobbs was contacted by the Guardian Newspaper about the child pornography ring. Hobbs commented to the Guardian, “The Paedophile network was the result of a spamming operation when the club changed over its computer servers and that Murphy had a vendetta.” These comments clearly contradicted Hobbs’s earlier explanation to the police that the “servers had no security issues”. Also, given that the child pornographers were operating on the club’s forum for almost a year with complete impunity it could not possibly have been a simple “split second spam issue”. This was a well organised paedophile network with literally thousands of photographs and videos of young children on sale for sex – It was operating unhindered over a lengthy period of time. UFM recently contacted Matt Hobbs at the Groucho Club for comment; he refused to comment or to issue a statement about the whole affair. We also asked Hobbs about the paedophile Lost prophets singer Ian Watkins, who was found guilty of a string of sex offences, including the attempted rape of an 11-month-old baby. Watkins was a determined and committed paedophile engaged in serious sex offences involving babies. We asked Hobbs about Watkins activity at the Groucho club, (no response) we also asked if Watkins was active on the Private Members forum (no response) as similar depraved activity was the norm on the Groucho Club member’s forum. One can’t help but wonder, is Matt Hobbs really the shrewd trouble-shooter that his reputation infers? , why did he not review the online profile of the Groucho Club when he took over as Managing Director? Why did he not look at the evidence when challenged by Murphy to do so?

politician being arrested or questioned for child pornography offences. The police seem incapable of dealing with the problem and in the case of the Groucho Club, flatly refused to investigate. Founder of the Child Abuse charity “Children Screaming to Be Heard” Maggie Tuttle said, “this is disgraceful, in this day and age that such an organised paedophile ring could operate on the Groucho clubs private forum freely and then covered up, do they not know that by covering this up means that the paedophile ring are still out there abusing children”. The Charity is now planning a demonstration outside the Groucho Club to highlight the cover-up. To date, not one person using the Groucho Club’s Private Members’ forum was ever charged with any criminal offence or ever questioned. How can any parent, celebrity or otherwise, sleep easy at night while knowing that the Groucho Club’s online paedophile network has simply moved on to continue abusing children elsewhere. Tyrone D Murphy’s who is writing a Book, ‘The Groucho Gate Affair’ which is a detailed expose on the clubs management and it seems like it’s going to be a fascinating and promising read. Murphy commented, “With the police paedophile operation, Yew-tree still ongoing, it may only be a matter of time before the police turn full circle and take a closer look at the Groucho Club’s members’ forum paedophile network. Hopefully, the persons responsible for destroying the evidence and covering it up will end up where they deserve, in prison with the paedophiles they assisted”. The Groucho Club are just morally responsible but are also legally responsible for the clubs member’s forum, perhaps it’s time for them to issue a full explanation with a public statement about the affair.

With the Jimmy Saville affair still fresh in people’s minds there is hardly a day goes by without a celebrity or high ranking

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Universal Film Issue 12 - 2014

RAI Amsterdam Conference 11-15 September | Exhibition 12-16 September

IBC2014 Discover More

IBC stands at the forefront of innovation, drawing more than 52,000+ creative, technical and business professionals from over 170 countries. It couples a comprehensive exhibition covering all facets of today’s industry with a highly respected peer reviewed conference that helps to shape the way the industry will develop. Also, take advantage of a variety of extra special features included as part of your registration at no extra cost: IBC Content Everywhere 0)* *VU[LU[ ,]LY`^OLYL ,\YVWL PZ [OL ÄYZ[ in a series of exciting new events focusing on rich media production, devices, apps, digital marketing, social media, content personalisation, big data, cloud services, second screens, investment and much more IBC Big Screen Experience providing the perfect platform for manufacturer demonstrations, ground breaking screenings and insightful, free to attend conference sessions focusing on the latest developments in digital cinema

0)* >VYRÅV^ :VS\[PVUZ KLKPJH[LK [V ÄSL IHZLK [LJOUVSVNPLZ HUK provides attendees with the opportunity to track the creation management journey IBC Awards celebrating the personalities and the organisations best demonstrating creativity, innovation and collaboration in our industry Future Zone a tantalising glimpse into the future of tomorrow’s electronic media

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Universal Film Issue 12 - 2014

Movie Magic in New Mexico By J.R. Beardsley and Paula Devlin On a desolate ranch in the windswept, wild west of northern New Mexico, encroaching evil is slowly turning a family into deadly foes. RainShadow is an intense, PG-13 supernatural thriller about a family who unwittingly moves into a haunted ranch, miles from civilization. The story weaves Native American occult around the unsuspecting family that struggles against annihilation with the aid of a mysterious local stable hand and his native shaman grandmother.

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from New Mexico. We are also determined nter stage left: California-based to find the best actors in New Mexico for Flying Stars Omnimedia (www. RainShadow. flyingstarsomnimedia.com) joins forces with New MexicoSimultaneously, Touché is reaching out based Touché International Films (www. toucheinternationalfilms.com) with the to such industry connections as The United Film Festival Organization (www. common theme, “Good Movies for Good People”. The goal is to showcase New “As a film- uffo.org), Movie Money Magazine ( www.moviemoneymag.com ) and Mexico-made films internationally, maker I wouldn’t organizations such as the New Mexico bringing the best talent in the world touch these Film Office (http://www.nmfilm.com) together to create Movie Magic in the festivals” and The New Mexico Film Foundation Land of Enchantment. (http:www.nmfilmfoundation.org), and Discover New Mexico (http://www. Based on the missions of both companies, discovernewmexico.com/2013/08/a-newthe production of RainShadow is a renaissance-for-the-old-west). perfect marriage for Touché and Flying Stars. Touché’s purpose is to promote the Touché’s association with uPUBLIC of attractiveness of film production in New Albuquerque (http://www.upublic.tv) is a Mexico by coordinating New Mexico’s skills, boon for RainShadow. uPUBLIC provides expertise, locations, and talents with those indie producers with supplemental seeking to produce medium-to-low budget equipment and resources, help with sound films in a state where it is not only possible, stage facilities, production assistance, but supported with generous incentives. crew, insurance, props, wardrobe, and Flying Stars actively honors gender balance other resources where needed. uPUBLIC and cultural diversity in the entertainment also assists with distribution through industry with high quality, low-to-moderate syndication, social platforms, mobile budget projects, all of which are based devices, the web, public space, as well as on story content targeting mainstream digital, cable & IP-TV. audiences. The combined effort for Phase 1 starts with launching an Indigogo campaign (with fiscal sponsorship through From the Heart Productions) to raise necessary start-up funding for the project’s development process. Encouraged by our female screenwriter, DJ Travis, we are in search of a female director and preferably one

Not only will RainShadow employ the usual diverse New Mexico cast/crew, it will feature the work of various New Mexico tribal artists and artisans throughout the film in jewelry, paintings, sculpture, and apparel. A combination of cinematic artistry with the commercial appeal of the horror genre, RainShadow has high potential for

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profitability and lends itself to branding in the latest media such as DVDs, video games, soundtracks, graphic novels, and other merchandising. Magical New Mexico continues to rival Hollywood, engaging and luring talent from around the world with its 300+ days of sunshine, clear air, and flamboyant sunsets. Add to that, New Mexico’s 25%-30% tax rebate incentive, skilled crews, state-of-theart studios/post-production facilities, and locations that can resemble almost anywhere in the world--what is work everywhere else is like play when in the Land of Enchantment. Contact: J.R. Beardsley at jr@toucheinternationalfilms.com Paula Devlin at paula@toucheinternationalfilms.com www.flyingstarsomnimedia.com for Indiegogo campaign updates. (fiscally sponsored by From the Heart Productions, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity with nonprofit status; all donor contributions are tax deductible.)

Universal Film & Festival Organization Best Business Practices for Film Festivals No 1: Film Festival organizers should operate a transparent selection process and publish details of the selection process and the names of the Jury/selection committee (publication can be after a festival concludes) No 2: Film festivals organizers should provide full contact details for the festival offices including address and telephone numbers and the names of the festival directors and or committee No 3: A Film Festival should publish its legal status as a company, charity or non-profit (this only applies to a registered entity) No 4: Film festival organizers should not share filmmakers’ financial data with any third parties No 5: Film Festivals should publish a year by year history of festival winners and films officially selected No 6: Film festival organizers, committee and or jury should not show or demonstrate any favouritism to any film submitted to the festival or attempt to influence other members of the jury or selection committee No 7: Film Festivals should declare the number of films sought and/or invited by the festival organizers to participate in the festival prior to and before the general call for submissions is sent out No 8: Film Festivals should provide the names of the selection committee and/or jury members who viewed the submitted film screeners to the festival (this could be after the festival has concluded) No 9: Film festival organizers should view at least 5 minutes of all submitted films No 10: All Festival organizers should declare any conflict of interest that may arise from any film submitted to or invited to participate in the festival

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SEDONA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 160 FILMS, SPECIAL GUESTS SUSAN SARANDON, CNN 2012 HERO OF THE YEAR, MARIEL HEMINGWAY, BRAD PAISLEY

Toxic Hot Seat from Robert Redford’s son, Jamie, about the toxic effect of fire retardant chemicals surrounding us. Among the features were Le Chef, a French comedy film starring Jean Reno; Cas & Dylan, a comedy directed by Jason Priestly about a dying doctor (Richard Dreyfuss) planning to check out on his own terms who takes a reluctant detour and winds up on the lam ith consistent community with an anything-but-normal 22-yuear old backing to ensure success and a girl; The Letters, a new film about Mother forward-driving strategy to build Teresa based on her real-life letters starring an industry-wide reputation Juliet Stevenson, Max Von Sydow and based on the overall Sedona experience Rutger Hauer; and Girl on a Bicycle, for filmmakers, the public and sponsors, Film on a a German comedy about an Italian the Sedona International Film Festival ledgend a time in driving a Paris tour bus with a German celebrateed its 20th anniversary with a long the making fiancée, a French wife and two powerful lineup of nearly 160 features, Australian children who call him “Papa.” documentaries, shorts and special TV, film and stage star Ed Asner will be in guests. Sedona to introduce The Letters, directed by his friend, William Riead. Film screening committees reviewed more than 1,000 films from around the world This year’s Festival also includes the premiere in making the final selections that will of These Storied Streets from producer be shown on six screens at three venues Thomas Morgan. Morgan also produced surrounded by Sedona’s world-famous red Waiting for Mamu, a remarkable documentary rocks and hospitality. about what it means for a child to grow up in prison and the impact of Pushpa Basnet’s Wide-ranging documentary subjects include organization on those children. Pushpa, The Joe Show about Maricopa County Sheriff known as Mamu, was CNN’s 2012 Person of Joe Arpaio, Waiting for Mamu, a film by the Year. Waiting for Mamu also will screen in Morgan Spurlock and Susan Sarandon about Sedona and Morgan will be on hand with his the CNN 2012 Hero of the Year, Pushpa, and

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business partner Susan Sarandon, who will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award in a special presentation during “An Evening With Susan Sarandon.” The full list of films can be accessed at www. sedonafilmfestival.org. Veteran screen actress Mariel Hemingway will present her film, Running From Crazy, a documentary examining her personal journey as the granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway. The film stars Jack Hemingway, Langley Hemingway and Margaux Hemingway. The Festival also will welcome Emmy Award nominee Stefanie Powers who will present her one-woman show. In addition, veteran actress Shirley Knight will be honored at the Festival and Academy Award winning producer Kathleen Glynn will be hosting the Filmmaker Conversations Series. Full details of Festival workshops will be announced shortly. Workshops and panel discussions are free and open to the public. Also scheduled this year is a Tribute to MGM Musicals with awards presented in honor of former films stars and Sedona residents Donald O’Connor and Anne Miller, the Festival’s first Lifetime Achievement Award recipients. Country music star Brad Paisley, whose films have been screened in Sedona, will make a special appearance and present ed a new project, followed by a Q-and-A session.

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Glasgow Film Festival 2014 TERRY GILLIAM, RICHARD DREYFUSS, JONATHAN GLAZER AND JASON PRIESTLEY AMONGST STARS ATTENDING

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lasgow Film Festival announce that be in town for the UK premiere of the new Oscar and Golden Globe-winning documentary about his life inside the secret actor Richard Dreyfuss, star of world of magic, Deceptive Practice: The American Graffiti, Jaws, Close Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay. Encounters of the Third Kind and The Goodbye Girl, will be attending the UK Director David Mackenzie (Hallam premiere of his latest film, Cas & Dylan, Foe, Young Adam, Perfect Sense) at the Festival on Saturday 22 February. GLASGOW will attend for the screening of his Dreyfuss will be accompanied by Cas & 2014 hugely acclaimed new project Starred Dylan’s debut director, better known as Up, featuring up-and-coming talent Beverly Hills 90210 star Jason Priestley. Jack O’Connell, while Swiss director Thomas Imbach will introduce his new take Terry Gilliam, former (and current) Python on the life of Mary, Queen of Scots. Brontis and director of Brazil and Fear and Loathing Jodorowksy, the son of world-respected in Las Vegas, will also attend the Festival on director Alejandro, discusses starring in his Thursday 27 February, in support of his new father’s newest autobiographical film The film, The Zero Theorem, which stars Christoph Dance of Reality, in which Brontis plays his Waltz, Matt Damon and Tilda Swinton. The own grandfather. Festival Closing Gala this year is Under The Skin, partly shot in the city and starring Journalist Iain McWhirter, author Jackie Scarlett Johansson: director Jonathan Glazer Kay and Scott Hames, editor of the book (Sexy Beast) and star Paul Brannigan (The Unstated: Scottish Writers on Independence, Angel’s Share) will return to Glasgow to walk will join artist and this year’s Margaret Tait the red carpet. Award winner Rachel Maclean (already announced) for symposium Tae Think Legendary magician and star of Boogie Again: Rethinking Identity in Contemporary Nights, Magnolia, State & Main, Tomorrow Scotland (Wednesday 26 February). Never Dies and The Prestige Ricky Jay will After John Romita Jr had to cancel his event,

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the Festival are very pleased to announce an exclusive appearance from comic book writer Andy Diggle and artist Jock (Mark Simpson), two of the most important figures in UK comics today, on Tuesday 25 February. From their work on the legendary anthology 2000 AD to DC’s The Losers and Green Arrow: Year One, the writer/artist duo have both created and reinvented comic book icons. In this exclusive GFF event, they will talk frankly about their work, their experiences bringing The Losers to the big screen and their lasting influence on the TV show Arrow, along with their new creator-owned graphic novel Snapshot and their latest movie projects. Douglas Gordon, the Turner Prize-winning Glasgow artist, joins director and fashion legend agnés b. (already announced) on the red carpet and in Q&A on Monday 24 February to promote My Name is Hmmm…, which he stars in as a lorry driver, along with his co-star, young actress Lou-Lélia Demerliac, who will also be appearing at the Festival. The line-up for Festival ambassadors Mark Millar and Robert Florence’s Geeks vs Gamers Super Quiz (Monday 24 February) has been confirmed: the Geek team will consist of Andy Diggle, Mark (Jock) Simpson and Frank Quitely, while games writer (and daughter of Terry) Rhianna Pratchett and comedians Greg Hemphill and Susan Calman make up the Gamers side. Kenny Anderson, aka King Creosote, will perform at the launch event for Cargo, Camera, Action!, Glasgow Film’s contribution to Festival 2014. Writer/director Biyi Bandele and producer Andrea Calderwood discuss adapting the much-loved Orange Prize-winning novel Half of a Yellow Sun for the screen on Saturday 1 March. On Wednesday 26 February, director Ragnar Bragason appears in support of Metalhead, which has recently received sixteen nominations including Best Film, Script, Director and Actress at the Icelandic Film Awards. The Story Writing for Games panel (Monday 24 February) has been confirmed as games writers Sam Barlow (writer, Silent Hill), Rhianna Pratchett (writer,

Tomb Raider)and Ragnar Tornquist (writer, Dreamfall Chapters). At Glasgow Youth Film Festival, Mairi Hedderwick, author of the Katie Morag books, was confirmed as joining the cast and crew of the CBBC series onstage at a sold-out schools event on Friday 7 February. “We’re really excited to be celebrating our tenth Festival in such sterling company. We are delighted to add to our Oscar-winning guest list with both Richard Dreyfuss and Roger Christian attending this year’s festival and we’re honoured to have original Python and visionary, Oscar-nominated filmmakerTerry Gilliam attending. Actor Jason Priestley has quietly built an impressive directorial career in television over the past decade and his beautiful, touching feature debut Cas & Dylan is going to beguile a lot of people. Jonathan Glazer is one of the most exciting and versatile directors working today - to go from Sexy Beast to something as disturbing and distinctive as Under The Skin is a real achievement; as is holding your own against Scarlett Johansson, for which rising Scottish actor Paul Brannigan deserves applause. We’re also delighted to have Brontis Jodorowksy, son of cult director Alejandro Jodorowsky, visiting from Chile and master illusionist and David Mamet regular Ricky Jay joining us from America. We are particularly excited that Tetsuichiro Tsuta, debut director of the absolutely extraordinary Tales of Iya, is visiting the Festival from Tokyo.We look forward to making all of our guests equally welcome in true Glasgow style.”

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The 2014 nominations for the Jameson Empire Awards — voted for by Empire magazine readers — are the most diverse yet, honouring blockbusters and independent filmmaking and with a special emphasis on British films and filmmaking talent. Regarded as the antidote to more formal, industryvoted awards, the Jameson Empire Awards are voted for entirely by the cinema-going public, who can now continue to vote on the final shortlisted nominees at: empireonline. com/awards2014.

British director Paul Greengrass will receive the Empire Inspiration Award at the ceremony for his work on the Bourne trilogy and recent commercial and critical success Captain Phillips, for which he is also nominated in the Best Director category. In the Best Director category presented by Air New Zealand, Greengrass is up against fellow Brits Steve McQueen (for 12 Years A Slave) and Edgar Wright (for The World’s End) and alongside Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity) and Peter Jackson (The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug). Numerous British productions feature in the overall shortlist, ranging from Filth to Rush to Best Comedy presented by Magic 105.4 nominees Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa and The World’s End and independent titles A Field In England and Trance. Scotland is well represented with multiple nominations for Sunshine On Leith and Filth. The five films in the running for Best British Film are: Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa; Filth; Rush; Sunshine On Leith, and The World’s End.

As well as recognising the critical successes prevalent in other awards shortlists — with six nominations for 12 Years A Slave, five for Captain Phillips and four for Gravity — Empire readers continue to champion those films that were most popular at the box office and with everyday cinema-goers. The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug, the fourthhighest-grossing film at the UK box office in 2013, leads this year’s shortlist with seven nominations, followed closely by the fifthhighest-grossing film, The Hunger Games: British talent also features heavily in the acting Catching Fire, with five nominations. categories. BAFTA-winner and Oscar-nominee The Jameson Empire Awards continue to Chiwetel Ejiofor, James McAvoy and the 2013 acknowledge those titles often overlooked Jameson Best Actor-winner Martin Freeman by established awards bodies with shortlisted join Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio in the films including The Conjuring, one of the shortlist for this year’s Jameson Best Actor biggest-ever openings in the US for an award, while Emma Thompson is nominated R-rated horror film, and Evil Dead, both of for Best Actress alongside Sandra Bullock, which are represented in the Best Horror Cate Blanchett, Amy Adams and last year’s category which also includes the titles A Field winner, Jennifer Lawrence. In England, World War Z and You’re Next.

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SEAWAY UCF FILM STUDENTS TAKE MICROBUDGET FILMMAKING TO THE NEXT LEVEL WITH ‘SEAWAY’ OCEAN ADVENTURE me, without constantly pushing ourselves to new limits, we aren’t learning new things.” The student production is reaching out to the community for help to raise money to cover costs such as insurance, boats and safety Seaway, headed by UCF students Jacob personnel. They’ve created a Kickstarter page Sadowsky and Robert Owen, tells the story to help raise the funds necessary. of an old fisherman whose search for a marlin leaves him lost at sea. While lost, he finds a The project is part of an upper-level film shipwrecked girl and together they must find course in UCF’s School of Visual Art and a way to safety. The project will feature local Design BFA film program, which is dedicated to the development and inspiration of actors and an all-student crew. filmmakers and students of film by teaching “We wanted to challenge ourselves,” Jacob independent micro budget cinema. More Sadowsky, the film’s director said. “Just like information on “Seaway” can be found at its the characters in the story, we will face website, Facebook page and Twitter where unprecedented hurdles that ultimately will the community can also follow production make us stronger people and filmmakers. To updates. Two students at the University of Central Florida are taking micro-budget independent filmmaking to the next level as they develop and plan to shoot a film on the ocean.

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DPA's - d:facto TM Vocal Microphone Wins New Fans

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PA Microphones is the leading new d:facto microphone because I’m so imDanish Professional Audio manu- pressed with the results it has delivered for facturer of high quality condenser Fran and Marti – and for Dougie Payne, Travis’ bass player, who is also using one for his microphone solutions for probacking vocals,” Wiggans says. “Before fessional applications. DPA’s ultimate DPA I tried d:facto, I had tried quite a few goal is to provide you – whether you’re in live sound, recording, theater or d:facto new vocal microphones that made big promises, but always ended up going wins broadcast – with the absolute finest fans back to the microphone that peopossible microphone solutions for ple have been using for over 40 years. your tasks. DPA takes no shortcuts in However, the d:facto’s clarity and ability the design processes nor makes any compromises in manufacturing, which is all done to capture the true sound source without extraneous background noise has made a real at the DPA factory in Denmark. difference to the way I work. Fran Healey, the lead singer of UK band Travis, and Marti Pellow, the lead singer of I now have much more time to concentrate Wet Wet Wet, are the latest in the growing list on other details because my vocal fader is of vocalists to switch to DPA’s d:facto Vocal just vocal, I don’t have to deal with anywhere Microphone. In both cases the artists made near as much ambient mush bleeding into the change on the recommendation of their the mix.” Tom Wiggans was introduced to the microphone by Rob Ramon, product managlive sound engineer, Tom Wiggans. er for DPA’s UK distributor, Sound Network. “I have no problem recommending DPA’s “Rob was at one of the gigs Travis played at

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the Roundhouse in London, and afterwards he came backstage and introduced himself,” Wiggans said. “I was already familiar with DPA having used the company’s overhead and instrument mics.

Tom Wiggans has also been using DPA’s d:vote™ 4099 Instrument Microphones to capture drums and brass. These were supplied by SSE Audio Group in the UK and used on the Travis tour.

“The minute we miked up Neil Primroses’ drums with the d:vote 4099, everyone was blown away,” Wiggans says. “People were coming up to me and asking what I’d done to make the drums sound so ‘real’. All the attack that you get with acoustic drums was there – it sounded like you were standing right next to them, only through a PA. They were just as good on Wet Wet Wet’s brass section, which tends to be quite loud. Once again there was After such a positive experience, Wiggans no problem with feedback or rejection.” was happy to specify two d:facto Vocal Microphones for the rest of the Travis tour, which Both Travis and Wet Wet Wet will be playing was taking in a number of South American live in coming months – Travis is off to the Far cities. “I had one for Fran and one for Dou- East in March/April, while Wet Wet Wet has gie, both of whom were delighted with the a number of racecourse gigs lines up for the way their vocals were sounding,” Wiggans summer. For Tom Wiggans and for the lead says. “We then flew straight to some Scottish singers, the choice of microphone is now shows, and unfortunately all our equipment easy. went astray so we had to borrow stuff for a “It will be DPA’s d:facto without any doubt,” couple of shows. Wiggans says. “From now on, when it comes Thankfully, our gear arrived for the last show, to vocal mics, it’s always going to be my first and as soon as the band walked on stage and choice.” spotted we had the mics back everyone was much happier. Missing something when you don’t have it is always a good indication of how good it is.” When I heard about d:facto I was keen to try one, so Rob arranged a demo. I didn’t get a chance to try it until we were in Paris a few days later. Pablo Wheeler (Travis Monitor Engineer) and I were able to do an A/B comparison with it against the mic Fran usually used. It sounded amazing – so good that after the show I realised I was going to need better reverbs. The difference was really noticeable.”

After completing the Travis tour, Tom Wiggans took his d:facto vocal microphones straight out on the road again – only this time with Wet Wet Wet. “My original plan was to have Marti try the mic in rehearsal so that we could see how he got on with it, but he was having none of that,” Wiggans says. “He wanted to try it straight away so Chris Trimby (Wets Monitor Engineer) just threw him on stage with it, blind. The d:facto sounded brilliant from the off and Marti was absolutely chuffed to bits. He liked the weight and feel of it in his hand. From a performance point of view he felt it was really well balanced.”

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DREAMWORKS ANIMATION Financial results for its fourth quarter ended December 31, 2013

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reamWorks Animation announced of the quarter. The Company also recorded financial results for its fourth quar- an impairment charge of $6.7 million, or a ter ended December 31, 2013. For loss of approximately $0.06 cents of earnings per share on a fully diluted basis, related to the quarter, the Company reother content. Additionally, Other Operported total revenue of $204.3 million and net income attributable to DWA $17.2M ating Income of $6.4 million, or a gain of $17.2 million, or earnings per share of earning of approximately $0.05 cents of earnof $0.20 cents on a fully diluted basis, per share ings per share on a fully diluted basis, was recorded in the quarter related to which includes the impacts of impairthe sale of a consumer social app that ment charges and a gain on the sale of was in development. technology in the quarter. For the 12 months ended December 31, 2013, the Company reported total revenue of $706.9 million and net income attributable to DWA of $55.1 million, or earnings per share of $0.65 cents on a fully diluted basis. The Company’s fourth quarter 2013 results included an impairment charge of $13.5 million, or a loss of approximately $0.12 cents of earnings per share on a fully diluted basis, related to the Turbo feature film, as a result of its performance during the last two months

“We made significant progress in 2013, transforming and positioning DreamWorks Animation for long-term success as a diversified family entertainment Company,” said Jeffrey Katzenberg, Chief Executive Officer of DreamWorks Animation. “In 2014, we have three great feature film releases, led by Mr. Peabody & Sherman on March 7th, followed by the sequel to one of our most beloved films, How to Train Your Dragon 2 in June, and Home in November, which has an in-

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credible voice cast led by Rihanna and Jim Parsons. Beyond our feature films we plan to continue to invest in our television, consumer products, digital and location-based entertainment businesses, where we believe there are significant growth opportunities for our Company going forward.� The feature film segment contributed revenue of $127.9 million and gross profit of $53.4 million to the fourth quarter. Turbo, which was released theatrically on July 17, 2013, reached $282.6 million at the worldwide box office. The film contributed feature film revenue of $1.6 million in the quarter. Turbo was released into the domestic home entertainment market on November 12, 2013. The film reached an estimated 3.3 million home entertainment units sold worldwide through the end of the fourth quarter, net of actual and estimated future returns. The Croods contributed feature film revenue of $59.7 million in the quarter, primarily from home entertainment. The film was released into the domestic home entertainment market on October 1, 2013 and reached an estimated 6.7 million home entertainment units sold worldwide through the end of the fourth quarter, net of actual and estimated future returns. Rise of the Guardians contributed feature film revenue of $8.5 million to the quarter, primarily from television and home entertainment. The film reached an estimated 5.2 million home entertainment units sold worldwide through the end of the fourth quarter, net of actual and estimated future returns. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted contributed feature film revenue of $11.4 million to the quarter, primarily from home entertainment. The film reached an estimated 8.8 million home entertainment units sold worldwide through the end of the fourth quarter, net of actual and estimated future returns. Library titles contributed feature film revenue of $46.8 million to the quarter.

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FESTHOME TAkes on SCAM FESTIVALS FESTHOME AND UFFO JOIN FORCES TO TAKE ON SCAM FESTIVALS

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t the beginning of February, 2014, shady film festivals for the past two years, Festhome, a film festival submission Tyrone D Murphy the founder of UFFO said provider discovered that a number of “we are delighted that someone else is now film festivals had signed up with the Festhout there putting filmmakers before profit, I ome submission service. Festhome became applaud the Festhome guys and their efforts suspicious as the film festivals were all using to run a clean operation and exposing dubia very similar styled template and had alous festivals”. most identical rules and regulations. A closer look by the Festhome team uncovered that Festhome began to dig deeper and although all the festivals were charging filmmakers the festivals themselves were being run the very same entry fees which were by one person was not an issue, or they no real considerable. had extremely high submission fees, as festival, just buying some festivals do, but the fact was that After a brief investigation, Festhome these were not festivals at all, nor did awards discovered they were offering the their addresses exist. Communication same kind of non-curated festivals, a with the festival operators was through dinner without screenings and filmmakers P.O. boxes, and while nothing looked illegal, would simply buy their own awards. it did smell like a scam to the Festhome team. Festhome were unsure of where to go next since they didn’t quite know how to logically describe the way these festivals operated. Festhome attempted to speak to the festival operators with no success; they also attempted a live chat through the Festhome website while the festival operators were online and asked them for a contact telephone number. The Festival operators refused to provide a contact number. Festhome then attempted to contact the operators via e mail and requested more information and again they did not receive a satisfactory reply. At this stage Festhome had enough and acted on their suspicions they shut down the submission accounts for the suspected film festivals to protect their filmmaker database.

Moisés Tuñón, a director of Festhome said “We have been following the fascinating stories and exposes in the Universal Film Magazine for the past couple of years. The way they investigated corrupt Film Festivals was inspiring. We also looked at the developments of UFFO for the past two years and their “Best Business Practices” for film festivals and the way its structured can help to indicate if a festival is corrupt or dubious. We are always on the lookout from such shady operators so we can preserve the integrity of our own operation” Festhome continued their investigation and discovered that almost all the operators that had registered an account with Festhome as administrators for the suspected festivals, each had different names and e mail addresses. However, the Festhome Team traced

UFFO and this magazine has been exposing

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all the accounts, names and e mails addresses not only the duty of companies and corporations, but also making sure that other compaback to a single IP address in Las Vegas. nies who work with them are doing the same. When the festival operators realised that In this sense, we love that organisations like Festhome had closed their accounts and UFFO exist and help reveal wrong-doings and banned them, they got back in touch and fi- educate people: this is a mission that generalnally provided a phone number. At this stage, ly does not get rewarded, if anything persethe festivals operators realised that the Fes- cuted, and it is with excitement that we apthome team knew that all of their festivals plaud UFFO’s labour. Festhome will continue had been setup by one individual. Festhome to try and protect filmmakers, and follow the telephoned the number; however, the con- Best Business Practices that help us trust each versation was brief. Festhome informed the other in this completely connected world”. individual that they were recording the conversation for legal protection, the individual responded angrily and the call was disconnected. After that call the Festhome Team took the decision to ban the film festivals permanently from their platform. In March 2014 the Festhome team contacted UFFO, the Universal Film & Festival Organization. The Festhome team appraised the UFFO founder Tyrone D Murphy (who is a former fraud investigator) of the situation. A conference call was set up for the following day and the Festhome Team and Tyrone D Murphy set about tracking down the individual who was behind the Fake Film Festivals. It took a couple of hours to dig up the right information as an address in Canada was used by the festival operator in an attempt to cover his tracks. Festhome/UFFO located the individual’s mother and father which then led to the companies and addresses of the individual who set up the festivals and attempted to con hundreds of filmmakers. Tyrone D Murphy said “this was a tricky one, but it was great to work with the Festhome guys who really are on top of their game, the Individual cannot be named at this moment in time as the file is currently on its way to the FBI and local authorities, but I have become a fan of the Festhome team and looking forward to watching them grow”. One of the directors of Festhome, Daniel L Fenaux, said “while the internet is changing the world very quickly, individuals should know that their actions online are not anonymous, and doing what is correct and right is

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TOOLS OF DIRECTING – ENGLAND 2014 | Professional development scheme for directors in Film + TV March 2014: The Directors Guild of Great Britain has launched regional professional development scheme with funding partner Creative Skillset. The scheme will kick off with the Tools of Directing Seminar in five cities from March-May. Attendees are then invited to apply for the second part of the scheme, a highly subsidised Master Workshop, which will bring a number of applicants to London in the summer for a unique training week with Directing Coach, Simon Phillips. Participants gain vital insights to the complex task of directing and learn to have better creative control of the entire production process. The Guild is delighted to offer many regional filmmakers the same career changing opportunity as the directors who took part in the Tools of Directing UK Tour in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in 2013. Dan Simmons, Head of Film Creative Skillset says, “Tools of Directing unify script, performance and shooting in a way that has never been done before. Participants improve their employability whilst learning to develop distinct professional skills, which reinforce and inform creative collaboration. We are pleased to be supporting this innovative scheme around the nation.” Ivor Benjamin, Chairman of the Directors Guild: "Tools of Directing is the first genuinely new directing method to emerge for the 21st century. It is not based on theories of acting or screenwriting but on the director's relationship with story and audience and it speaks most powerfully to directors who already have some experience of their craft - and to producers who want their directors to have sound, integrated working practices taking the project through from script to post. The Tools are already successfully in use in Europe and the US and the Guild is proud to have pioneered them here in the UK and grateful to Creative Skillset for their support." SEMINAR In the popular seminar, aimed at professional directors at every stage of their TV and film-making career, Simon Phillips offers you first insights into the Tools of Directing techniques, already widely employed in the UK and internationally. You will build on your existing experience as a director, distilling your current practice into clear principles that can be immediately applied to your work - from script development to planning the shoot. Simon will introduce you to a simple, practical method to analyse and develop the essential vision of your story; you will learn straightforward techniques to break down and plan how to shoot your script, problem-solve performance issues and to communicate more effectively with your writer, actors and DoP. Seminar dates: Sat 15 March 2014: Bristol | Watershed Sat 22 March 2014: Newcastle | Tyneside Cinema Sat 29 March 2014: Sheffield | Workstation Sat 10 May 2014: Manchester | Cornerhouse Sat 17 May 2014: Leeds | West Yorkshire Playhouse MASTER WORKSHOP Heavily subsidised training for directors who have participated in a regional seminar, with travel/accommodation grants available. The week-long Workshop with Simon Phillips is a combination of training, mentoring and networking, focusing on developing participants’ skills and confidence in using the Tools of Directing Actors, Casting, Script Development and Directing Camera. This will be in the form of a Bursary Scheme that brings up to 16 talented directors to London in the summer for the full week Tools of Directing Master Workshop. Master Workshop dates: 14-18 July 2014: London. Application deadline: 23 May. Many directors who have trained with Tools of Directing have gone on to great success, including the recent ScandiNoir series THE KILLING and THE BRIDGE. Madeleine Ekman, Co-Producer THE HUNT (2012, Oscar Nominee 2014), MELANCHOLIA (2011) and ANTICHRIST (2009), said: “Tools of Directing are concrete and not just anecdotes. The teacher is perfect, with own personal experiences and solutions that made us really think. All directors need this.” More info and how to book please visit: http://ow.ly/tI6ly

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2014

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Universal Film Issue 12 - 2014

UFFO UNIVERSAL FILM & FESTIVAL ORGANIZATION “promoting best business practices for film festivals” www.uffo.org 218 international film festival members

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MOVIE MONEY e n i z a g ma Issue 01 - 2013

all about

FILM FINANCE what are the banks saying? interviews with top film finance experts www.moviemoneymag.com


Subscription You can subscribe to Move Money Magazine online at our web site www. moviemoneymag.com.

ONLINE EDITION The online version of the magazine has the benefit of being interactive, and contains video interviews and links to many fund sources.

UFM When you subscribe to Movie Money Magazine, you will also receive a free subscription to our sister publication, The Universal Film Magazine. www.ufmag.biz

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agazine Movie Money Editor tyrone d murphy Assistant Editor Kevin a murphy Film and Event editor CRAIG SMITH Advertising Director ev johnson Sales & Marketing joanne kelleher Proofing Editor TODD VOLT Michelle Goode Contributions Steve Rogers Adrian Ward Paul Brett Carey Borth Vinca L. Jarrett, Esq Bernd Stephan Jeanette Buerling

Questions and feedback: Movie Money Magazine

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Editor: Tyrone D murphy Tyrone D Murphy is an award-winning filmmaker, the CEO and founder of UFFO, the Universal Film & Festival Organization (205 Film Festivals) and is the founder of the Universal Film Magazine, which is distributed in over 100 countries worldwide. He is also an active member of the BAFTA Management Committee, the NUJ and the DGGB.

Contributions from Industry Experts Adrian Ward is the Senior Vice President - Entertainment Industries Division at Pacific Mercantile Bank in California, USA.

Steve Rogers is the CEO of Premier Pictures; a provider of funding to producers via structured finance, pre-sales, tax credits and EIS equity.

Bernd Stephan is the president & CEO at Media Finance Group, LLC. He is a seasoned expert in all aspects of film finance.

Welcome

Welcome to Movie Money Magazine, the only publication in the World that is solely dedicated to film funding and investment. Each issue contains in-depth interviews and contributions from many of the worlds leading industry experts in film funding, tax incentives, industry trends and sources of funds. MM also includes a section dedicated to films in development, and feature films seeking film funding and distribution. MM reviews and profiles current trends by investors and funds and reports on funds, tax incentives and sources of soft funds all over the world. Movie Money Magazine serves as a financial conduit directly connecting film-makers with investors and fund sources.

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

CEO of the Prescience Paul Brett talks to Movie Money

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aul Brett is a direc- Universal). Prescience is an future of film funding and tor of Prescience integrated media company investment heading? and has worked in that focuses on film prothe media industry duction, financing and in- PB - I don’t see any particsince leaving university 28 ternational sales. Launched ularly radical changes. This years ago. He has worked in 2005, it has provided business been in existence at Video Arts, Catalyst, Par- over £250m of film finance for about 100 years, and it amount Pictures, Universal for independent UK and carries on the same way Studios and Pathé. Paul de- US productions, including that numbers swell and reveloped and implemented multiple Oscar winner, “The treat, and players come and the UK exhibition go, and at the moand distribution “There is no particular genre that ment it’s a buoyant strategy over a market. The indeworks well” three-year period pendent film busiat the British Film ness is thriving, and Institute/UK Film Council, King’s Speech.” Prescience there’s been a continued before leaving to found Pre- also jointly owns the in- professionalism of the marscience with Tim Smith. ternational sales business ket for the past 25 years. Ealing Metro, in partnership At the BFI/UKFC, Paul was with Ealing Studios. Pre- MM – What film genre responsible for the BFI’s science provides a variety of shows the best return for relationships with exhibi- different sources of financ- your company? tors throughout the UK and ing for UK and international Northern Ireland, including film productions. PB - I have no idea. Any film both art house and comcan be made, it’s just about mercial cinemas. Prior to The different types of finding the right price. this, he worked for Miramax financing include: There is no particular genre International as Vice Presi- • Debt financing that works well, because dent of European Market- • Bridging the moment anyone sees a ing, as well as Pathé/Guild, • Development funding pattern, what you get is a VCI and CIC (a joint venture • Equity glut. The ambition is to find between Paramount and MM - Where do you see the a film that looks like a good

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

value, because I think, subconsciously, the audience is thinking, “For my bucks, am I going to get value for the price of my ticket?” I think that’s the most important question. It’s certainly the one that drives us as we look to fund films. Will there be an audience for this film, will they see this as being valid? By definition, independent films are cheaper than studio films that have much higher overheads. You may have a “Paranormal Activity,” but the studios are bombarding the audience with films that are literally thousands of times more expensive, and I think the audience takes that into consideration. That being said, if they think that the film is going to be entertaining, that will overcome budget shortfall.

MM - How has the economic environment affected the way your company operates? PB - Every day we re-examine our business to make sure we are offering our investors the very best return for their investment – this is in the forefront of our minds. What has happened in the past 6 years of economic recession is that the money is still out there, but it doesn’t know where to invest. The issue is not that the money supply has dried up, but that it’s harder to make that commitment with one’s money. MM - What should filmmakers do to improve their chances when seeking funding? PB - That’s easy: think about the end user. You don’t alter

your movie, but you think about how the audience is going to consume it. If you are content for it to be streamed so people can view it on their computers, that’s fantastic. But if you want a Leicester Square or Chinese Theater premiere, then plan accordingly. Don’t alter your creative intent because the marketing maidens tell you to. I certainly would not ask to change a creative vision. MM - What difficulties can filmmakers face when finding funding? PB - In a nutshell, the competition. There’s too much demand out there; it’s far too easy to make a film. Our mantra is: it’s not difficult to finance a film or to make a film, the real trick is getting someone to see it.

Next Issue ,

MM will be profiling The Aramid Entertainment Fund in the next issue of MM. Arimid is an Open Ended Investment Company (OEIC) incorporated in the Cayman Islands. The Fund provides short and medium term liquidity, on a low to medium risk level, to producers and distributors of film, television and other media and entertainment content by way of loans, secured against a variety of assets.

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

CEO of Premier Pictures Steve Rogers talks about film funding

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content using the latest mobile technology. The uncertainty over future income and sales creates a higher risk perception for distributors, investors and lenders. Coupled with today’s global financial difficulties, there The words of Bob Dylan, are fewer lenders of senior “The times they are debt (secured on pre-sales) a-changin’,” couldn’t be and gap lenders (secured on more true these unsold territories), days for the busiThe words of Bob Dylan, “The and they’re taking a more prudent ness of film, which times they are a-changin’,” to the is going through a couldn’t be more true these days approach amount they are period of painful, prepared to lend. but exciting, evolution. the public’s appetite for film Investors need to feel they is as strong as ever; it is just are getting a return approThese are indeed challeng- the way they like to view it priate to the risks, and dising times. Many film-relat- that is changing. tributors are generally beed businesses are failing. ing more cautious. Sales agents, distributors With the possible exception and post production houses of major studio blockbust- Although times are tough, have been migrating into ers, most movies must now governments recognise the administration. Traditional make their money from an many social and economic film distribution models are increasing range of non-tra- benefits that are delivered evolving and DVD sales are ditional sources rather than by film production. Attracfalling (closely linked to the box office and DVD sales. tive tax credits therefore failure of high street retail- This is the result of the remain available from ers and video rental firms, proliferation of digital dis- many international territoand the continuing prob- tribution channels and the ries for filmmaking in their lems with piracy), but ex- ability of consumers to view local areas, and many re-

teve Rogers has a wealth of experience in investment, Development, Venture Capital, and Film for Premiere Picture and Premiere Capital

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citing opportunities are being embraced, as well. The greater use of 3G and the rollout of new 4G broadband support an ever-increasing range of mobile platforms on which to view content. Briefer, overlapping profit exploitation windows create a more intense marketing period. Fortunately,

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gional grants are available. In the UK, the government encourages individuals to invest venture capital into new businesses by providing tax benefits (such as through Enterprise Investment Scheme and Seed EIS), which are ideal to help offset the risks associated with film production. At Premiere Picture, we have been providing funding to producers via structured finance, Pre-sales, discounting Tax Credits, and EIS equity. Our experience has been that the most successful producers – the ones who actually get their films financed and made – focus closely on the commercial potential of their films, match the budget, cast to realistic sales projections to give the investors the best chance of a return on their investment, and take full advantage of the government support available to filmmakers. Premiere Picture is attending the Cannes Film festival and can be contacted on info@premierepicture.com

UFFO Universal Film and Festival Organization “Promoting best business practices for film festivals” The Universal Film & Festival Organization was founded to support and implement best business practices for film festivals throughout the world. UFFO is a global voluntary organization and is non-for-profit. It’s remit is to bring together the highest quality of Film Festivals and the film making community by encouraging film festivals to become sound in best business practice. To date we have been very successful in this endeavor with over 205 international film festival members. The UFFO “best business practices “is completely voluntary, it is free and easy to implement. In addition it is a blueprint for filmmakers in deciding which film festivals to do business with. A Message from the UFFO President Maureen O’ Hara “Every once in a while there is something that stands out and compels us to notice it; I think that is what struck me most about UFFO when it was first brought to my attention. I am so tremendously honored and proud to be the President of such an international organization that promotes ethics in an industry I love so much” Maureen O’ Hara To get involved with the organization as a member, a volunteer or to sponsor UFFO please e mail info@uffo.org Our web site is www.uffo.org

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

The Asia Film Financing Forum

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Award recipients include winners for the HAF Awards, HAF Script Development Fund Award, the 2nd annual HAF/Fox Chinese Film Development Award, the Technicolor Asia Award, the Paris Project Award, the Wouter Barendrecht Award, the Network of Asian Fantastic Films Award, and two new awards this year: the ARRI Awards and the Catapooolt Awards. HAF Awards were selected

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from 25 project finalists, chosen from more than 250 worldwide submissions. The selection comprised 22 features and three documentaries, with five quality Hong Kong-based projects in the running.

made the 11th HAF a success and continued its legacy as Asia’s most anticipated film-financing platform,” said Roger Garcia, Executive Director of the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, the organisers of HAF. “We are proud of The Awards Ceremony our work bridging the gap was held at VIEW 62 by between talented filmmakPaco Roncero at the iconic ers and producers and film financiers who “E-Max Cineplex Presents the want to bring great 11th Hong Kong - Asia Film Fi- these projects to life.”

he 11th Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) announced its winners for the culmination of a threeday event connecting filmmakers with financiers, distributors, and producers at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

nancing Forum”

Hopewell Centre in Hong Kong, and attended by filmmakers. Films were awarded cash prizes of HK$150,000 each. “My deepest appreciation goes out to all participating filmmakers, funders, partners and sponsors for their support, and to the dedication of HAF staff and volunteers that have

The Hong Kong - Asia Film Financing Forum is widely recognised as the most important film-financing platform in Asia. It brings Asian filmmakers who have upcoming film projects to Hong Kong for co-production ventures with top film financiers and producers.

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

Jeanette Buerling, CEO of the Media Magnet Group

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eanette Buerling, CEO of Media Magnet Group, a film finance and production company, with offices in Beverly Hills, Cologne, and London talks to MM. The Company was launched in 2009 as an equity film fund. It has since expanded to include senior and junior debt financing for films, funded by its German division MMP. MM. Where do you see the future of film funding and investment? JB. The film finance industry has undergone drastic changes in the last 24–36 months. Equity funding diminished and debt lending became more prominent. We started off as an equity investor and have done quite well. However, we do see that a combination of debt and equity may be the best solution for us. We are therefore more active in the debt/mezzanine space at

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present and we see that to be the best of both worlds. MM. What should film-makers do to improve their chances when seeking funding?

film-makers, enabling them to learn how to close their film project. MM. What made you decide you wanted work in this sector?

JB. In my view, film-makers need to learn about the complexity of film financing. Today it’s not just about the creative side of a film project and more. The financial side is a key element towards getting a film made. The more a film-maker knows about film funding, the easier it will be close films and to get them onto the big screen.

JB. My love for storytelling. I started working at a network station when I was still in university studying business. Soon I discovered that the combination of creativity and business are best suited for me and I am glad to be able to work with both sides of my brain on a daily basis.

We started a non-profit foundation to educate film-makers. We do so through conferences, round table discussions and film finance events. We also offer one-on-one advise. We are launching an online film finance channel (www. filmfinanceTv.com) to deliver important news to

I was trained in television and then in the studio system on how to develop and produce programming. I added the finance component about eight years ago, when I decided to find my own money for projects. It turned out to be a valid investment structure for various financiers, who to date still invest with us, because they made good returns.

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

Bernd Stephan, President & CEO at Media Finance Group, LLC

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ernd Stephan is the president and CEO at Media Finance Group, LLC. He is a seasoned expert in all aspects of film finance, with a long track record of securing large volumes of independent film finance.

funding heavily relies on pre-sales, for the companies I have worked with; the best genres are romantic comedies, action, thrillers and love stories. We have worked with companies that would not look at urban, sports or animated movies.

MM. Where do you see the future of film funding and investment?

MM. Given the current economy, how do private investors view movies as possible investments?

BS. For independent film it is hard to find any institutional money right now. The reason is that institutional money has been burned a lot by the industry, that’s number one, so when you look for independent funding you either find it from an independent production company who are willing to take on your picture, or go to some high net worth individuals. MM. What genre film has the best return for your company? BS. In the independent film world, because the 10

BS. Movies are not a favorite investment choice, and private investors, most of the time, have an ulterior motive: they are not looking at great returns but because they see it as a sexy investment. My advice is for any business, not just movies: do not try to sell an investor on the fact that it’s a home run and he is going to make so much money, because the first thing any investor who looks at an investment is thinking, is how can these guys screw up and lose all my money? You must show the investor that you are responsible with

their money, and protect the downside, that’s number one, because at least if you get over that hurdle, then you have a chance to continue the conversation. You must approach it as a business, if you want to get someone to invest heavily in a film, say millions in a film, it’s a lot of money, so approach it as a business. It all comes down to revenue minus expenses and profit; then, if you show them that you’ve done your homework when it comes to the profitability, it will help your cause. MM. What is the key to success for any film-maker? BS. The key to any business is revenue generation, and in film the key is in achieving distribution; so getting a top international sales agent lined up and having a strategy in regards to domestic sales, is always the solution. I regularly tell people that it’s easier to find the money for a $25M movie

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

than it is for a $2M movie. For instance, say you meet someone for drinks and the producers are sitting there at the next table, doing their calculations as to how much equity they need. They say the movie is $10M; so therefore $5M is needed in pre-sales, $3M in incentives and $2M in equity. Well, that calculation never holds water, because people tend to forget that even if they can get an incentive of $3m, if they need to cash flow it, they either need to bank it and a bank is never going to give 100% on a tax incentive, or you have sell to somebody and they are not going to give you a hundred cents on the dollar either. There is also a discount that people don’t take into consideration; consequently the equity requirements go up. MM. How does it work with pre-sales? BS. Well, it’s the same for pre-sales. If you have $5M international pre-sales, especially if it’s $5M total international sales or $5M real hard pre-sales that you have contracts for, it never translates into a $5M production loan. This is because a bank will never give you a dollar for dollar loan contract from a secondary territory, even

for primary territories such as the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, Australia and so on, being contingent on the basis that the distribution may discount it. So when people do their calculations, they forget to take that into consideration. That’s one of the common mistakes that I see: they don’t understand that even if they are entitled to incentives, or if they have pre-sales, that somehow the money needs to be cash flowed.

incentive for the movie “Law Abiding Citizen” in Pennsylvania, but we had to sell the incentive because it was transferable but not refundable. You need a tax payer who has a liability of $9M, so we sold it for 91 cents on the dollar, but the banks still discounted it by 7% because there was a so-called tax credit risk. This basically means that if you don’t spend all the money then the banks won’t be able to get all the incentives.

MM. What percentage does a bank lend against a tax incentive?

MM. What is the hardest part of raising film finance?

BS. I would say that you can raise between 70-90% and sometimes 100% on a tax incentive; it all depends on which territory the incentive is from, as each territory’s criteria is different. If it is an incentive in Louisiana, the state of Louisiana buys back the tax incentives at 85 cents on the dollar, so the bank is giving you 85 cents on what you are asking for. MM. What steps does the bank take to protect its investment? BS. Well, the bank will hire an external consultant who scrutinizes the numbers, and this gives the banks comfort. We had a $9M

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BS. The hardest part is always the equity, because financing a movie is one of the hardest things you will ever do. It is the old dilemma of the chicken and the egg. You want to attach named talent to your project, and to do so you need to Pay or Play, and they (the talent) will want to see the money. However, you can’t send a Pay or Play offer without securing the talent with a deposit, and so you need the money, and the investor will want to see talent attached before they give you the money. Therefore, until you make it Pay or Play, the talent is not attached. No talent, no money, no movie.

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Monaco Grand Prix 2013 VIP Package

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here are many factors for film-makers to consider when seeking funding, but first they must take an honest and objective look at the project and themselves. It must be worthy of a few years of their time and they must be truly passionate about the project before they involve “money people”. Filmmakers must recognize their own skill set. If skills are lacking, then consider a co-production with more experienced film-makers and If they have a highconcept script, they should pitch it to the studios instead. If the film-maker isn’t able to break down a script for a comprehensive budget, they should hire a line producer who will help determine an accurate budget and top sheet. Both the script and synopsis must be as well written as possible and in a marketable genre if foreign pre-sales are sought. Foreign pre-sales are difficult but can be

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

What should film-makers consider

when seeking funding? achieved if the genre is psychological thriller or horror. Suspense and fear sells; it is universal. Stay away from comedies, as a rule, since crossover is low to multiple countries. Also realize that many investors do not read scripts. Instead, their focus is on the logline, beat sheet, poster/ graphics, a catchy synopsis, treatment, executive summary, business plan, A-list director/A-list talent, and the film-maker’s track record. They need to know the rate of return on their investment and how money will be returned to the investors. What are the comparables? List the box office estimate/cost, the cost for five similar films that made money and five similar films that took a loss. When you pitch your projects to investors be prepared, honest, knowledgeable, confident and fairly aggressive. Be forthright in your dealings, as this is an incestuous business. “Be nice to people on your way up because you’ll meet them on your way down.” It is the nature

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of the beast. Have your entertainment lawyer write about the risk involved in the project. Be prepared to discuss the organization of your company and who the managers are. Who is the director and who are the key production team members? Add as much credibility as possible along with an industry overview to your business plan and pitch. When the background information is ready and the top sheet of the budget prepared decide how the corporation or LLC will be structured. Consider crowd funding as a way to raise capital that you do not have to pay back. Your film “package ” will only be complete if you have set reasonable expectations for the budget. Recognize that you need to establish your own track record by starting with smaller projects before tackling larger ones. Consider the fact that this is an on going business and that you are establishing relationships. If you are in the US, for example, remember federal security laws change so you must keep up with them. Each state of the US and every

By Carey Borth province of Canada have their own tax incentives that change all the time. Producers must check and recheck the laws and never assume anything. Finally, establish a network of strong advisers. Agents, managers, publicists, social media experts, marketing professionals, well-known producers, lawyers, bankers, financial planners (as contacts), and mentors all add value to the filmmaking process. This is key so that you may run your ideas by them and thereby make yourself more attractive to potential investors. You may use them as a sounding board to seek advice on whether a potential deal is legitimate or if it is fraudulent just a bad deal. Also, do your due diligence before making any financial commitments to anyone, be it a friend or a stranger. Carey Borth Producer/Attorney/Writer BBA UW-Madison, WI JD Pepperdine Law School MFA UCLA Film & TV careyborth@mac.com

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

Enterprise InvestmentScheme

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he Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) is designed to help smaller higher-risk trading companies to raise finance by offering a range of tax reliefs to investors who purchase new shares in those companies. The company has to observe certain rules, not just at the time of the investment, but for at least three years afterwards. If it fails to meet those rules, tax relief will not be given; or, if it has already been given, it will be withdrawn. Similarly, companies should appreciate that investors must meet certain conditions for tax relief to be due. For individuals who subscribe for shares in an EIS, several kinds of income tax relief are available: Capital Gains Tax exemption. Investors who have received income tax relief

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(which has not subsequently been withdrawn) on the cost of the shares, and the shares that are disposed of after they have been held for a qualifying period. Any gain is free from Capital Gains Tax. Share loss relief. If the shares are disposed of at a loss, investors can elect that the amount of the loss – less any income tax relief given – can be set against income of the year in which the shares were disposed of, or against any income of the previous year, instead of being set off against any capital gains. Capital Gains Tax deferral relief. This is available to individuals and trustees of certain trusts. The payment of tax on a capital gain can be deferred where the gain is invested in shares of an EIS qualifying company. The investment. All shares must be paid up in full, in

cash, when they are issued. We would advise companies and investors to ensure that any shares on which EIS relief is intended to be claimed are not issued during the company registration process, but are issued only at a later date when the company is able to receive payment for them. Shares must be full-risk, ordinary shares, and may not be redeemable or carry preferential rights to the company’s assets in the event of a winding up. Shares may carry limited preferential rights to dividends, but there must be no arrangements to protect the investor from the normal risks associated with investing in shares, nor any arrangements at the time of investment for the shares to be sold at the end of the relevant period.

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

UK Tax Authorities targeting the film industry as five more face charges he UK HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has secured criminal convictions against a gang of tax fraudsters jailed in the UK for creating a fictional feature film in order to claim nearly £1.5 million in VAT relief along with nearly £1.3 million in film tax credit claims. The HMRC has concerns about scams involving this tax relief fund, which is designed to help get more British productions into cinemas and increase employment for UKbased film support businesses.

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The leader of the gang, Bashar Al-Issa, from London, was jailed along with Aoife Madden, Tariq 16

Hassan, Ian Sherwood and Osama Al Baghdady. Evolved Pictures perpetrated the astonishingly bold scam, hyping the

project as a top-end production with Hollywood A-List talent attached. The producers claimed the film required a bud-

get of £19M, which translates to £2.8 million ($4,216,587) in VAT relief and tax credit claims. John Pointing, HMRC assistant director of criminal investigation (AKA “The Bulldog”), said, “This gang thought they could exploit the rules for genuine British filmmakers and thieve from the public purse for their own gain. They were wrong, as HMRC will not stand by and let that happen. Falsely claiming VAT that is not due is illegal – so we are pleased that instead of this film flop going straight to DVD, these small-screen Z-Listers went straight to jail.” www.moviemoneymag.com


Universal Movie FilmMoney Magazine Issue 1 of 2013

Sources have told MM that the UK tax authorities have now set up a special team to scrutinise current and past applications for irregularities. A recent announcement tells of yet another alleged UK tax scam by five British movie industry names who are being charged in a more than £125 million ($194 million) tax relief scam marketed to UK investors. Charges against Keith Hayley, Robert Bevan, Charles Savill, Cyril Megret and Norman Leighton are being brought by the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service after an investigation by HMRC, the UK government’s equivalent to the IRS in the USA. Each of the five will face charges of conspiracy to defraud contrary to section 1(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977, section 17 of the Theft Act 1968 and Common Law. At the time those laws were enacted, the tax relief system operating in the UK was shut down after it was exploited by tax consultancies. The old system was replaced by the current tax credit system, which seeks to incentivize producers and investors in a more efficient way.

The Universal Film Magazine is a free magazine that delivers passionate and creative coverage to the global film and festival communities. The Magazine has gained a firm reputation for tackling corrupt or disreputable film festivals who rip off student film-makers, sponsors and even blacklist filmmakers with little more than a casual comment. This is evident in the magazine as it has exposed many festivals and has named and shamed those involved in dubious practices. UFM is partnered with and holds distribution rights with organizations including AFM, APP-World, Sat-Com, NAPTE, BEV, Production Show UK, NAB Show, Broadcast Show Africa, Latino Mediacon, IBC Amsterdam, Mandy, Directors Guild and Production Base as well as many more industry institutions and international production shows. The magazine is entirely free and has an impresssive circulation in over 100 countries. www.ufmag.biz

The CPS said all five defendants are due to appear before Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on June 18th.

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

Interview with Craig Smith CEO of the Film Finance Awards

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he Film Finance Awards (FFA) is working together with UFFO, Universal Film Magazine and Movie Money Magazine for the next Film Finance Awards Gala, to be held in London on October 26, 2013.

ceremony. FFA recognizes structural, inspirational and creative investment across a range of film finance categories. During the year, the FFA team organizes several awards events in Berlin (February), Basel (April), Cannes (May), and Beverly Hills (September).

MM – What does the Film Finance Awards do?

On the night of the Awards, government organizations, the investment community, and individuals working on behalf of and within the film industry and film finance communities will be recognized for their achievements in more than 20 categories of investment.

FFA – Our team hosts a series of high-end film and entertainment investment events during the year, with the final Awards Gala taking place in the finance capital of the world, London, England, on October 26th. The Film Finance Awards jury will vote on all of the nominations to determine which will make the short list for 2013. The jury dinner and vote will take place the night before the awards

Common to all nominees is a shared goal: to promote and finance the production of critically and commercially successful films. The program consists of open-

ing VIP cocktails, seated dinner, awards ceremony, evening entertainment and networking. MM – Why have you brought Film Finance Awards to London? FFA – After successful events in the Martinez Hotel in Cannes during the Cannes Film Festival and the Lux Hotel in Beverly Hills, we started receiving requests to run the Film Finance Awards in London. With the ever-increasing importance of international finance for local and international film – and the fact that London is the capital international finance – it seems to be the logical location to hold the Film Finance Awards. You can send in your nominations for the 2013 Film Finance Awards through our website.

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

THE EVOLUTION & FUTURE OF FINANCING INDEPENDENT FILMS By Vinca L. Jarrett, Esq.

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inancing inde- ance-backed schemes folpendent feature lowed by hedge funds (many films has come of them Ponzi schemes) and a long way since even banks dumped other the 1930s, when first doc- people’s stupid money into tors and lawyers put up feature films without any one hundred percent of the understanding of how films money for a film, about a provided a return on an inprize fighter, that the stu- vestment. What has changed dios weren’t interested in at significantly for financing the time. That film; part of films includes cheaper techa slate of three, went gang- nology for making indepenbuster, while the other two dent films; smaller returns never recouped, netting the due to the decreased DVD investors an overall profit market resulting in smarter, from just the one movie. Doctors and lawyers put

and a new financing method through non-recoupable crowdfunding sources.

Increased awareness of global tax credit and soft money incentives has allowed investors to hedge ten to thirty percent of their investment just by careful production location and spending in jurisdictions that incentivize the total costs spent locally. While Canada has led the charge, America has challenged the global up one-hundred percent of the mon- market to make inFinanciers have centives based on ey back in the 1930s always been atspend rather than tracted to the alpolitically inspired ternative investment space less expensive films thanks “cultural tests”, allowing of film not just to turn a to technological advances; productions to shoot worldprofit, but for the residu- a worldwide increase in wide at reduced costs. Jurisal effects it can reap them soft money tax incentives; a dictions in Eastern Europe, such as invitations to exclu- need to make smaller films South Africa and Ireland sive events with stars and more appealing to a wider have sped ahead to protalent in locations such as audience through ensemble tect their share of producCannes. Today’s investors casting; more investment tion and compete for the are increasingly becoming coming directly from dis- coveted American projects more savvy about the film tributors; an increase in film that tend to be more star investment space after the festivals and social media driven and bring in more heady 90s through this new allowing the smallest player dollars to a local economy. century, where first insur- to market a film worldwide; Another change has been 20

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

from global distributors and sales agents; all competing for fewer theatrical films in a crowded international marketplace; all trying to be the next Slumdog Millionaire. Today’s savvy distributor not only sells a movie after it is completed, but looks for product to pre-finance through its sales efforts by putting up a minimum guarantee (which can be banked by senior and mezzanine lenders) or getting involved in independent projects at script level; influencing casting choices in order to secure the best films early on in the production phase. Talent remains an important factor, but instead of the one-name headliner of yesterday’s indie marketplace, today’s films lean towards smart ensemble products with multi-national A-list actors (as well as directors and writers) that allow distributors to market the films to global buyers. This has increased the importance of agencies coming on to package the ensemble, financing and distribution primarily for the U.S. market at the major festivals. The most important trend for those seriously getting involved in film funding today is crowdfunding used to launch not only the development or post-production financing of a film, but

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the entire production, and also serves as the project’s first marketing efforts, establishing it with its first guaranteed audience before it’s even submitted to a festival. No film going forward today that hopes to garner a theatrical release in the United States can honestly seek success without a team that assures social networking on a global level, bankable ensemble casting, and financing that includes tax credits, minimum guarantees and crowdfunding in addition to the traditional equity investment. Today’s independent feature film investors no longer have to put up one hundred percent of the investment in order to reap the initially sought benefit of mingling with the stars. Instead, the smart ones have figured out that twenty five to thirty five percent of a film’s budget may be sufficient equity to invest in getting a film made in today’s independent feature film business, and still maybe hit the lottery with the success that gets them to profit. Vinca L. Jarrett, Esq. is an entertainment lawyer and president of FilmPro Finance, a financial consulting service for investors and producers funding oneoff films and building film slates. 21


Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

© Kay Tennemann

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

,

Next Issue MM will be profiling Clarius Capital Film Financing in the next issue of MM. Clarius Capital provides subordinated debt (mezzanine) financing for experienced producers of feature length motion pictures, with production budgets in the $10 million to $20 million range. Clarius also provides $18 million of marketing financing (prints and advertising--P&A). This approach to film production and marketing financing allows independent producers to secure wide-release domestic distribution agreements on favorable terms. They also structure each transaction so that their respective interests are aligned. According to Clarius, this is a fair and transparent approach, rare with studio financed productions, assures that any profit participation is shared proportionately. Full profile of CLARIUS in next months issue

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

A

drian Ward, has a wealth of experience in the Entertainment Banking sector. He is currently the Senior Vice President - Entertainment Industries Division at Pacific Mercantile Bank talks to Movie Money MM - Where do you see the future of film funding and investment?

to be more sophisticated and can come on board from earlier in the process. Overall, smart money has tended to replace dumb money that was too plentiful in supply before 2008/09. MM - How has the economic environment changed the way you do business? AW - We are more cautious with our loans across the board. We practice more rigorous risk mitigation and there is more due diligence every step of the way. Hav-

AW - Be aware of the market that their film is intended for. Also, put more work in to reducing the production costs, especially above the line costs, of their film. Many smaller, independent films do not work as a business model because talent is paid too much. The final piece of advice is to be patient and always have a back-up plan.

AW - Crowd funding has MM - What difficulties can gained headlines recently filmmakers face when raiswith VERONICA MARS and ing funds in the film sector? other projects but is that model viable for AW - There are a high volume of many difficulties Crowd funding has gained mainstream, comfilm-makers can headlines recently with mercial features? face that range VERONICA MARS and other from Investors who – probably not. I still see the existmislead filmmakers ing model that we about their ability (banks) deal with – lending ing said that, content pro- to fund projects. Also, inexagainst pre-sales, tax cred- duction is still very strong perienced lenders who have its and providing gap – as (quality over quantity I unrealistic expectations on being viable, it’s just that would say) and we are see- how a finance structure will different rights are now ing international markets work or what their clients taking on more value (VOD) being more robust albeit should be paid, etc. etc. It as older rights (DVD) are in at significantly lower prices pays to get a good lawyer decline. than 4-5 years ago. and if you hit a wall find another producer who has Investment funds are com- MM - What can filmmakers previously got around your ing from different sources do to improve their chances problem. and now those sources tend when seeking funding? 24

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

Film Production & Co-Productions

Film Productions/Co-Productions Post Production/Special Effects Crew/location scouting

Classic Media Entertainment An award winning production company Skype: CMEFILMS | e-mail info@cmefilms.co.uk | www.cmefilms.co.uk


Issue 1 of 2013

projects seeking funds WIPE

apache street gang

Genre: Thriller/Sci-fi Budget: £5 million Seeking: £5 million Distribution: No Country: United Kingdom

Genre - Brit crime Budget - £1 M Talent Attached- yes Distribution - UK DVD Country - UK Wales info@cmefilms.co.uk

alexsymes@wearetwinstar. co.uk

A gang of special needs kids take over the drug business on a run down housing estate.

Debt Of Gratitude Genre - Brit crime Thriller Budget - £5.8m ($9m) Seeking - £ 4m Talent Attached- yes LOI Distribution - TBA Country - UK & Ireland.

“One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” meets “Scarface”

Alex@leomediagroup.com

the blarneys Jeffrey O’Kelly, the universal storyteller who brought fun, adventure and classic entertainment to millions of children and grown-ups around the world with his animated TV series Doctor Snuggles, now welcomes you to step into the unequalled, captivating fantasy world of Blarneyland and the Blarneys of Blarney Castle. A family orientated feature film which will be produced in live action with SFX and animation, entitled Blarneyland and the Great St Patrick’s Day Caper. jeffrey@blarneyland.com

BONOBO

Wheeler

THE QUIET HOUR

mark@bigbrushfilmsltd.co.uk

pweed56@gmail.com

sean@frenzyfilms.com

Genre - Drama - horror Budget £50,000 Seeking £20,000 Talent Attached - yes Distribution - No Country UK

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Genre - Action Budget - $4M Seeking - $2M Talent - Committed Distribution - Sony Country USA

Genre - SCI-FI Budget - £100k Seeking - £50k Talent - No Distribution - No Country - UK

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Issue 1 of 2013

The Boy Who Died Comfortably Genre - Drama Budget - £3,000,000 Seeking £3,000,000 Talent Attached - Director Lucy Brydon Distribution - N/A Country - China, United Kingdom, America lucy.brydon@gmail.com

mad frankie fraser Genre - British Crime Budget - £5M Seeking - 90% Talent - yes Distribution DVD UK & IRL Country - UK & USA Principle Photography:2013 Feature Film on Britain’s most prolific underworld killer. It is said that ‘Mad’ Frankie Fraser is one of the most feared criminals of the last century. He has been a contract strong-arm, hit man killing 40 people, a member of the infamous torture gang, a firebomber, prison rioter and a thief with 26 convictions and 42 years inside. A feature length documentary has been made but will not be distributed until the feature film is completed info@cmefilms.co.uk

Facility 31

Death of a Rose

Genre - Horror Budget - £1.5m Talent - yes Distribution - yes Country - UK

Genre - Thriller Budget - $10m Seeking - $1m Distribution - yes Country - UK

mark@facility31movie.com

vipstudios1@aol.com

THE COMPETITION Genre - FAMILY Budget - £500k Seeking - 90% Talent - yes Distribution TBC Country - UK Principle Photography:2013 In a cynical age where old people are frequently marginalised, a family unite behind one seemingly unremarkable old man to make his dreams a reality. rupert@mphfilm.com

send your movie listing to editor@moviemoneymag.com www.moviemoneymag.com

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Movie Money for

your home

New id

ea s

Issue 1 of 2013

Hubert Bals Fund

The Hubert Bals Fund is designed to bring remarkable or urgent feature films by innovative and talented filmmakers from developing countries closer to completion. The HBF provides grants that often turn out to play a crucial role in enabling these filmmakers to realize their projects. http://www.filmfestivalrotterdam. com/en/hbf/

Channel 4 Brit Doc Foundation

gives financing to support independent filmmakers making documentary projects that would not be commissioned by a UK broadcaster. Since their inception in 2005 they have funded over 60 award winning films.metu.

National Film & Video Foundation - The Nation-

al Film & Video Foundation provides film and video-related funding in www.britdoc.org four broad categories:Education and Training,Development Funding,ProWomen in Film Foundation’s duction Funding, and Film Finishing Fund (WIFF FFF) sup- Marketing and Distribuports films by, for or about women by providing cash tion in South Africa. grants of up to $15,000 and in-kind services http://nfvf.co.za/funding http://www.wif.org/fff/

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

Global Film Initiative

The Global Film Initiative promotes cross-cultural understanding through the medium of cinema. The Initiative has developed four complementary programs to promote both the production of authentic and accessible stories created in the developing world and their distribution throughout the schools and leading cultural institutions of the United States. http://www.globalfilm.org/about. htm

sue of s I y r e v In e re is a e h t y e on Movie M m fund l i f f o selection er the v o l l a from sources world

Nigerian Film Fund

Nollywood is the place to be. The Nigerian Film Fund (NiFiFu) is the only way for people outside the industry to get a share of the action. http://www.nififu.com/Who.htm

National Endowment for the Arts - The National

Endowment for the Arts supports organizations that are involved in a broad spectrum of activity in the media arts -- film, radio, and television -- including the production, exhibition, distribution, and preservation of work; the provision of services to the field; and the training of artists. www.arts.endow.gov/grants/apply/ Media.html

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

(1) AIDC Marketplace (AUSTRALIA) - MeetMarket is designed to match selected documentary makers’ ideas with over 50 national and international executive producers, broadcasters and distributors attending AIDC. http://aidc. com.au/pages/aidc-home/ marketplace/ (2) Baltic Sea Forum for documentaries (LATVIA) - is a pitching session and workshop combined with film screenings. http://www.edn.dk/activities/ edn-activity-texts/balticsea-forum-for-documentaries-2010/ (3) CPH DOX: FORUM (DENMARK) - is an international event dedicated to help facilitate the development and financing of creative and visually strong film projects. http:// www.cphdox.dk (4) CNEX Chinese Doc Forum (CHINA) - is designed as a platform for film-makers who adhere to Chinese culture and meet the commissioning editors from broadcasters..http:// www.cnex.org.tw/cnex_all. php/42.html (5) COPro (ISRAEL) - The event is meant to expand and advance Israeli independent documentary makers and facilitate collaboration of Israeli documenters with TV networks and producers from around the world. The two- day pitching

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DOCUMENTARY FUNDS AND PITCHING FORUMS There are many funding sources all over the world for the production of documentary films. Most applications for documentary funding are rigorously assessed in terms of their potential for broadcast or are capable of reaching an international audience through theatrical release and film festival exposure. takes place every spring. www.copro.co.il/ (6) DocEdge Kolkata (INDIA) - promotes creative and socially engaged documentary through workshop and intensive training. http://docresi.org/docedgeKolkata_about.html (7) Docs Meeting Argentina Pitching Forum (ARG.) - is DOC Meeting Argentina’s area where documentary producers and directors are offered international financing opportunities for their projects.. http://www.docmeeting.com.ar/english (8) Docs in Thessaloniki (GREECE) - is an international pitching forum and workshop offering an outstanding opportunity to create alliances for future collaborations: http://www.edn.dk/activities/edn-activity-texts/ docs-in-thessaloniki-2011/ (9) Docs in Barcelona Pitching Forum (SPAIN)- filmma-

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

kers and producers can present their documentary projects in development in order to attract finance. http://www.docsbarcelona.com (10) Documentary Edge Forum (NZ) - is an industry event, held during the Documentary Edge Festival. It brings together local and overseas filmmakers. http://www.documentaryedge.org.nz/forum/pitching-forum. html (11) Dragon Forum (POLAND) – takes place during the Krakow International Film Festival. Attendance of 15 commissioners representing Channel 4, HBO, ARTE and TVP. www.dragonforum.pl (12) Durban Filmart Finance Forum (SOUTH AFRICA) - provides selected African film-makers with the opportunity to pitch film projects to leading financiers. http://www.durbanfilmmart.com/ (13) East European Forum (CZECH) - is the region’s largest meeting of East European documentary filmmakers with Europe’s and North America´s leading commissioning editors, distributors, buyers and film fund representatives. http://www.dokweb.net/en/east- european-forum/ (14) HotDocs (Canada) –international documentary market in North America, the Forum is a pitching event that stimulates international co- production financing for projects: http://www.hotdocs.ca/conference/hot_docs_forum (15) DFA (NETHERLANDS) – The Forum is IDFA’s international co-financing market for documentaries: http://www.idfa.nl/industry/markets-funding/the_forum.aspx (16) Leipzig Forum (Germany) – is where Documentary Campus and DOK Leipzig present new developments and trends in

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the international documentary film industry. This year we focus on the multimedia strategies of ARTE, YLE and Channel 4. http://www.dokfestival-leipzig.de/v2/cms/ en/dok-industry/overview/dokideas/page280.html (17) Miradas Doc (CANARY ISLANDS) - is an internationally bridging media content market where documentary producers may sell their films to television companies and distributors. http://miradasdoc.com/ (18) Open Doors (Locarno Film Festival) - This initiative, focusing on a different region every year, brings professionals from the chosen region together with potential partners, mostly from Europe, to foster support for projects that would otherwise be difficult to make. http://www.pardo.ch/jahia/Jahia/home/ Open-Doors/Presentation/lang/en (19) Sheffield Doc/Fest MeetMarket (UK) - is the pitching initiative at Sheffield Doc/Fest, Projects can be in any genre looking to raise finance and distribute/exhibit their projects through alternative strategies including via crowd funding and third sector. Doc/Fest also offers other pitching opportunities and formats for all levels of experience. http:// sheffdocfest.com/view/meetmarket (20) Sofia Meetings – Pitching Forum (BULGARIA) - has two modules: Second Films Pitching - presentation of first, second and third feature film projects, looking for financial support and co-producers. Balkan Screenings - showcase of the latest Bulgarian and regional feature and short films fro directors and programmers from different international festivals, world sales companies and journalists. http://www.siff.bg/ sofiameetings More funding sources in the next Issue www.moviemoneymag.com

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tax Money Movie

scheme Issue 1 of 2013

Revenue: Irish Tax and Customs Section 481 Scheme The Scheme was introduced to promote the Irish film industry, by encouraging investment in Irish made films which make a significant contribution to the national economy and Exchequer and/or acts as an effective stimulus to the creation of an indigenous film industry in the State. The scheme was broadened in 1993 to include individual investors. The details of the scheme are contained in Section 481 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997. Summary Of The Scheme The scheme provides tax relief towards the cost of production of certain films. The maximum amounts which can be raised under the scheme are:(1) up to 80% of the cost of production for all budgets up to the cap of €50,000,000. (2) in no case may the total amount raised under Section 481 exceed €50,000,000. Tax relief on 100% of their investment is available to individual investors and to corporate investors. Individual investors can invest up to €50,000 under the scheme in any year of assessment. An investor who cannot obtain relief on all his/her investment in a year of assessment, either because his/her investment exceeds the maximum of €50,000 or his/her income in that year is insufficient to absorb all of it, can carry forward the unrelieved amount to following years up to and including 2015, subject to the normal limit of €50,000 on the amount of investment that can be relieved in any one year. A corporate investor and any connected companies can invest up to €10,160,000 in any 12 month period. The total amount which can be invested in any one film cannot exceed €3,810,000. Investment may be made by an individual company or a corporate group. Where the total investment exceeds €3,810,000, the excess can only be invested in productions with a budget of €5,080,000 or less. Revenue: Irish Tax and Customs Dublin Castle, Dublin 2 Dublin , Ireland Phone:+353 1 6475000 - Email:filmrelief@revenue.ie Web Site: http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/it/leaflets/it57.html

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CREATIVE DATING FOR THE INDUSTRY

Irish Film Board The Irish Film Board (Bord Scannán na hÉireann-IFB) is the national development agency for the Irish film industry investing in talent, creativity and enterprise. The agency supports and promotes the Irish film industry and the use of Ireland as a location for international production. IFB role sees to be directly involved in the creative process of Irish films from script to screen, providing investment for the development, production and release of Irish feature films, television, animation, documentaries and short films. The fund administers Fiction Creative Coproduction Irish Film Board 14-16,Lord Edward Street Dublin 2 Dublin Ireland Phone +353 91 561398 Web: www.irishfilmboard.ie

Ireland’s National Screen Agency As Ireland’s National Screen Agency, Bord Scannán na hÉireann / the Irish Film Board (IFB) has a dual role. In addition to funding local and international production, they promote Ireland as a film location internationally. The Irish Film Commission, a unit within the IFB and also ensures that Ireland remains a film-friendly location for both local and visiting filmmakers.

Creative Professionals have finally been put on the internet dating map. With the way that modern life has changed and lives are busier than ever, it is no wonder that internet dating has grown prolifically. Every sector from Religion to Uniforms has been covered , but at long last www.creativesdating.com has arrived! Opposites may sometimes attract, but lasting relationships flourish when couples have a common ground. This is the ethos behind Creatives Dating which was started by Atalanta Harmsworth, an Equity/MU Member, who wanted to find other people in a similar creative career. This came out of her own experience, because she’d had two failed marriages partly down to, she felt, her spouses not understanding her commitments when working. Finding that there were no dating sites strictly for professional creatives, she decided to start her own.

14-16 Lord Edward Steet, Dublin 2 Phone : +353 91 561 398 Email: naoise.barry@irishfilmboard.ie Web: www.irishfilmboard.ie

“We’ve maintained the privacy and safety of the site,” said Atalanta, “and membership has grown rapidly, with an even wider range of like-minded professional creatives.”

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

UK - New projects announced for Regional Film and Creative Talent Development funds

C

reative Skillset has funded 24 new projects from the Regional Film Fund and Creative Talent Development Fund programmes, investing over £700,000 into the UK film industry. The aim of the Regional Film Fund programme, in training film industry professionals, is to make sure that relevant training is delivered across England, meeting specific local skills needs. Over £350,000 has been awarded to organisations to run training across England for over 700 industry professionals. Funded programmes range from The Generator, a development programme by 104 films to raise the film market and business development skills of outstanding emerging disabled film talent in Yorkshire, to Show Me The Money, a four-day residential lab in Birming34

ham by First Light, which will train 15 new entrants in the art of feature film financing. Many of the regional programmes address gaps in business and entrepreneurial skills - such as finance, marketing and management, areas also identified in Creative Skillset’s 2010 survey of the production sector workforce. In a creative industry where many freelancers establish their own small, independent companies, these types of skills are vital. The Creative Talent Development programme aims to support emerging and established Writers, Directors and Producers on training programmes with a project and team focus, which prepare talent for the realities of the industry and help establish and reinforce industry connections. Areas of particular interest are: Script development and

script editing schemes. Training linked to short film production. Training linked to microbudget feature film production. Structured festival-based training programmes which help talent better understand the UK and international film industries. Over £350,000 has been awarded to organisations to run training for over 650 established industry professionals in these areas. Programmes range from The Bureau Film Company’s Save Our Scripts, which will connect emerging writers and producers from across the UK, to LOCO’s Kickstart Your Comedy Career, a year-long programme for upcoming comedy filmmakers with live craft sessions, masterclasses and workshops as well as networking and collaboration sessions.

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

Sources of Film Financing in the UK Other key organisations responsible for film funding Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund Established over 80 years ago the CTBF has been providing valuable practical and financial assistance to people working in the film and TV industries. They raise their funds through donations, charity events and memberships. Collabor8te Collabor8te aims to build filmmaking teams by giving opportunities to new talent while encouraging them to learn from more experienced professionals. Collabor8te hope to nurture homegrown talent and help them to establish themselves internationally. IdeasTap IdeasTap is a charitable organisation established to help young, creative people at the start of their careers. The organisation offers a variety of free resources for young people including showcasing opportunities, workshops, funding, mentoring and advice. IdeasTap also manages an online arts magazine, IdeasMag, which offers advice through interviews and features. iFeatures A feature development and production programme supported by Creative England which supports the development of 16 projects and the production of three films on budgets of £350,000. Based originally in Bristol, the initiative which began life in 2009 is now widening its net to a search for stories that reflect England for iFeatures2.

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Microwave An initiative of Film London and the BBC Microwave challenges filmmakers to shoot a feature film for no more than £100,000 with cash and in-kind support. It is open to film-makers working in documentary, fiction, animation and to artists working with the moving image, and has resulted in some extraordinarily well recieved films from Shifty to Ill Manors. Scottish Doc Institute SDI is an internationally recognised documentary research centre at Edinburgh College of Art specialised in documentary training, production and distribution. Its aim is to stimulate and inspire the documentary scene in Scotland and beyond through focus on creative excellence and clear international outlook, in order to develop a slate of feature documentaries with some of SDI’s Bridging the Gap alumni, and enable ambitious co-productions such as “The New Ten Commandments”, “Future My Love” (forthcoming) and “Breathing” (in post-production). Wellcome Trust The Wellcome Trust is a charitable foundation whose aim is to improve the health of humans and animals. For many years the Trust has been encouraging the collaboration between scientists and artists to help generate understanding and debate around key issues affecting science and society. This is achieved through a variety of awards and initiatives open to all art forms.

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Movie Money Issue 1 of 2013

Northern Ireland Screen Creative England Creative England works in partnership with the British Film Commission to support film and television productions shooting outside London, and to promote England as a place to film. England offers some of the very best filming locations, crew, facilities and studios in the world. Creative England can help your production to find and access them, and can liaise with local authorities on your behalf to ensure your shoot goes smoothly. Creative England have been working to develop a new and exciting library of locations, crew, facilities and production companies in the English regions. This is a fully searchable, comprehensive listing of filming locations, crew, facilities and production companies working throughout all grades and departments within the industry outside London. They have now launched the new service and are dealing with enquiries from production companies on a daily basis. Contact production@creativeengland.co.uk Tel:- +44 (0)208 324 2311

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Northern Ireland Screen is the government-backed lead agency in Northern Ireland for the film, television and digital content industry. Its mission, to accelerate the development of a dynamic and sustainable screen industry and culture in Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Screen provides focused intervention in 8 key areas: (1) FILMING IN NORTHERN IRELAND (2) INVESTMENT AND FUNDING (3) BUSINESS AND SKILLS (4) IRISH LANGUAGE BROADCAST FUND (5) ULSTER-SCOTS BROADCAST FUND (6) EDUCATION (7) ARCHIVE AND EXHIBITION (8) MARKETING AND INFORMATION Northern Ireland Screen is funded by Invest Northern Ireland (Invest NI) and part financed by the European Regional Development Fund under the European Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern Ireland; the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL); it is delegated by the Arts Council of NI (ACNI) to administer Lottery funding for film in Northern Ireland. For further information. Tel:- +44 (0)208 324 2311

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